GOLDEN PERFORMANCE: Kirsty Coventry cheers after winning
a gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games

Some 10 African countries sent just one judo competitor each, among them, is Mozambique. "Judo only came to Mozambique 10 years ago via Portugal," said Coach Omar Omar of Mozambique.

"Judo is a booming sport in our country. We are considering putting the sport into our school education system."

With a population of 20 million, Mozambique has 2,000 people in the country's Judo association and, according to Omar, the figure is increasing by around 75 percent each year.

Olympic dream

Only the FIFA World Cup rivals the Olympics as a world sports event. In two years time, the FIFA World Cup will be held in South Africa. Could an African country also host the Olympic Games in the near future?

To date, Africa is the only continent that has not hosted the Olympic Games, among the five inhabited continents. Experts say that with the FIFA World Cup being held in South Africa, the Olympics is likely to follow.

Cape Town in South Africa competed for the right to host 2004 Olympic Games in 1997, together with Athens, Rome, Stockholm and Buenos Aires, but failed. Rogge has indicated on many occasions that he hoped to see the Olympic Games held in Africa.

Born in the West, the Olympic Games used to be held only in European and American countries. It has since expanded to become a truly global event.

According to Colin Moynihan, Chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA), the Olympic Games was centered in Europe in the 20th century, and in the 21st century it should be more internationalized. He stressed that the Olympic Games will come to Africa soon since the world's top sports events should embrace every continent the five-ring logo represents.

Talent drain

A major problem for many African countries is how to keep talented athletes at home. "African athletes perform very well in the Olympic Games, but the continent faces a serious drain of athletes. The IOC should take measures to prevent the spread of this phenomenon," said George Gomez, head of the Gambian Olympic delegation to Beijing.

In recent years, many African athletes have chosen to become naturalized as citizens of European countries. "Meanwhile, in order to occupy preferential positions in medal lists, some rich countries pay huge expenses to buy African athletes to compete for them. This will harm Africa's efforts in training sports reserves," stressed Gomez.

At the Commonwealth Games held in 2002 in Manchester, Britain, Gomez led 14 young Gambian track and field athletes out, and all of them later disappeared and did not return to Gambia. "This was a great loss to Gambia. Actually, such a phenomenon can be seen in almost every country in Africa."

Several years ago, African countries suggested the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) forbid track and field athletes from African countries, who have changed their nationalities, participating in international competitions on behalf of other countries within six years of changing nationality. The IAAF only agreed that such athletes should be kept away from international competitions for three years, or one year if the athletics associations of both countries agree. "Such prescription is unfair to African countries," said Gomez.