The 2016 Olympic Games, the world’s biggest sports party, officially began on Friday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with a record number of countries participating in a record number of sports.
More than 11,000 athletes from 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs), including first time entrants Kosovo and South Sudan, as well as a 10-man refugee contingent, are taking part in the 5-21 August 2016 ‘celebration’. Africa accounts for 54 NOCs to the Games.
The 2016 Summer event is the Games of the XXXI (31st) Olympiad, a major international multi-sport event governed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Opening rounds in certain events began on 3 August — two days before Friday’s opening ceremony.
With 306 sets of medals, the games will feature 28 Olympic sports, including rugby sevens and golf, which were added by the IOC in 2009. There are 33 venues in the host city and five venues in the cities of São Paulo (Brazil’s largest city), Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Brasília (Brazil’s capital), and Manaus.
These are the first Summer Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of 63-year-old Thomas Bach, a German lawyer and former Olympic Champion fencer. He is the ninth and current President of the IOC.
The lead-up to the Games has been marked by controversies, including the instability in Brazil’s federal government, health and safety concerns surrounding the Zika virus and significant pollution in the Guanabara Bay, as well as a doping scandal involving Russia which has affected the participation of its athletes.
Below is the list of African teams participating in the Rio 2016 Olympic games:
Algeria (67 athletes)
Angola (25)
Benin (6)
Botswana (12)
Burkina Faso (5)
Burundi (9)
Cameroon (24)
Cape Verde (5)
Central African Republic (6)
Chad (2)
Comoros (4)
Congo (10)
DR Congo (4)
Djibouti (7)
Egypt (120)
Equatorial Guinea (2)
Eritrea (12)
Ethiopia (34)
Gabon (6)
The Gambia (4)
Ghana (14)
Guinea (5)
Guinea-Bissau (5)
Cote d’Ivoire (12)
Kenya (89)
Lesotho (8)
Liberia (2)
Libya (7)
Madagascar (6)
Malawi (5)
Mali (6)
Mauritania (2)
Mauritius (12)
Morocco (51)
Mozambique (6)
Namibia (10)
Niger (6)
Nigeria (75)
Rwanda (8)
São Tomé and Príncipe (3)
Senegal (22)
Seychelles (10)
Sierra Leone (2)
Somalia (2)
South Africa (137)
South Sudan (3)
Sudan (6)
Swaziland (2)
Tanzania (7)
Togo (5)
Tunisia (61)
Uganda (21)
Zambia (7)
Zimbabwe (31)
