Competing in 1980 for the first time under a brand new name, Zimbabwe (previously Rhodesia), has since racked up eight gold medals. The first competition ever for women’s field hockey was held during the games in Moscow, and six teams competed. Zimbabwe’s team (pictured above) assembled 10 days before the games began, and hadn’t even played together before arriving in Moscow. They ended up with gold!
Source: en.wikipedia.org
This nation attended the Olympics since the beginning of the 20th century, but was banned from 1964 to 1992 on account of apartheid. Upon its re-introduction, Penelope Heyns (above) won two gold medals in Barcelona for the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke events, making her the only woman in Olympic history to do so. At the 2004 Athens games, Ronald Schoeman won one of each medal for men’s freestyle swimming. At the 2012 London Olympics, three gold medals were won. South Africa currently holds 23 gold medals, all from summer games.
Source: en.wikipedia.org, olympic.org
Kenya has sent athletes to almost every Olympics since 1956, and has also competed in three winter games, winning the gold 25 times. A large percentage of Kenya’s 86 medals over the years has come from running events. The last two summer Olympics had Kenya walking away with 25 medals! Some notable gold medal winners include Kipchoge Keino (above), who had track-and-field wins in Mexico City in ’68 and in the ’72 Munich games. In 2008 in Beijing, Samuel Wanjiru won Kenya’s first gold medal for marathon running.
Sources: wikipedia.com, brandkenya.go.ke
Winning 22 total, and six since its first Olympic appearance in Rome’s 1960 games, Morocco has been steadfast and strong for decades. At the 1984 Los Angeles games, Said Aouita and Brahim Boutayeb scored two gold medals for men’s 5,000 meter and 10,000 meter. Many consider Hicham El Guerrouj (above), who won two back-to-back track-and-field golds at the 2004 Athens games, to be the greatest middle-distance runner of all time.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
While only participating in two winter games since 2006 and winning no medals, Ethiopia has done marvelously well for itself over the years during the summer games. It has landed 39 total medals since Ethiopia stepped onto the Olympic field for the first time at the 1956 Melbourne games, including 21 golds. Go get it! It must be the high elevation of this country that gives such great lung power, because all of the golds have been for running events! Kenenisa Bekele (men’s 5,000 meter and 10,000 meter) and Tirunesh Dibaba (women’s 5,000 meter and 10,000 meter) took home all of Ethiopia’s four golds in Beijing, two each! Famed Abebe Bikila has two golds, his first won in Rome in 1960, where he famously ran the marathon barefoot.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Only one athlete has performed in a Winter Olympics from Egypt — an alpine skier in 1984. However, since Stockholm’s 1912 games, Egypt has been present, except for a few years of boycotts. Despite a stockpile of 26 medals since then, there have been no double-gold winners out of the seven achieved over the years. Talk about some buff fellas, though: five out of the seven golds have been for weightlifting! Most of the silver and bronze prizes have been won for wrestling, boxing, and lifting. The first gold ever went to El Sayed Mohammed Nosseir, who broke the world record in the 1928s Amsterdam Olympics, lifting 335 kilograms.
Source: en.wikipedia.org,
Since declaring independence from France in 1962, Algeria has attended all but one summer game and three winter games. Winning all of its 16 medals in summer events, the first of five gold medals this country has taken home over the years went to a woman, Hassiba Boulmerka (above), in the women’s 1500-meter dash at the 1992 Barcelona games. Boulmerka faced down death threats from certain Muslim groups in Algeria, offended by her lack of body covering during competition. The second woman to win the gold for Algeria was in the same event by Nouria Merah-Benida in 2000’s Sydney games.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org, olympic.org
The Pearl of Africa has never competed in a winter Olympics, but it’s asserted its presence during the summer games, winning seven medals, two of which are gold. The first Ugandan win was in Munich, 1972. John Akii-Bua was lacking in competition experience, and was not favored to win. He ended up setting a world record of 47.82 seconds in the 400-meter hurdle competition. The second won by Stephen Kiprotich, who won the men’s marathon gold in London, 2012.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Also never competing in winter games, Nigeria has been attending and winning lots of medals at summer events since 1952. This country holds 23 total medals, three of which are gold. It have some noteworthy group victories too: In the 1996 Atlanta games, the national football team won the gold, and in the 2000 Sydney games, the men’s 4-by-400-meter relay team won after the U.S. was stripped of its gold medals on account of Andrew Pettigrew’s confession of using steroids. The third gold went to Chioma Ajunwa in 1996 for women’s long jump.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
This Francophone West African nation holds seven medals, three of which are gold. When Cameroon goes, it goes hard! These guys are great at football, and four years after Nigeria’s victory, Cameroon snagged the gold for the men’s national football team. The only other representative to win gold is Francois Mbango Etone (above), who cleaned up consecutively with golds in the women’s triple jump at the 2004 Athens games and the Beijing games in 2008, where she broke the record with a 15.39-meter jump.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
