Tokyo Olympics: Which African Nations Made It To The Medal Table?

The 2020 edition of the summer Olympics came to an end on August 8, 2021. Out of the 205 countries participating in the event, 54 African countries had representatives in the Olympics. Despite the representation, the performance for African countries remains relatively the same. The most notable events that African countries took part in are athletics. 

African nations scooped 3.43% of all medals, which were up for grabs at the Tokyo Olympics. Below are some African countries that made it to the medal table as the sports enthusiast claimed their Bet9ja Promotion code, which allowed bettors to enjoy great entertaining opportunities online.

Kenya

Kenya is on the top of the medals table, scooping ten medals (4 gold, four silver, and two bronze medals). However, their medals dropped from the 13 they scooped in the last Olympic held in Rio in 2016. 

Kenyan athletes were mainly dominant in races, taking home two gold medals in marathons in the event’s final days. Their athletes have always dominated long-distance races and recently ventured in short races where Ferdinand Omanyala reached the semifinals for the first time in history, clocking a time of 9.86 seconds. 

Uganda

Uganda entered into the books of history as they surpassed South Africa and Ethiopia to come in position two. Despite having a representation of only 25 athletes, they managed to take home four medals, two of them being gold. Uganda scooped gold medals in the men’s 5000m and women’s 300m steeplechase. 

Their performance came as a surprise to Kenya as they’ve always dominated these events in the past years. The Ugandan team was positioned 36 in the overall medal standings, and the team is coming out strongly to challenge Kenyan athletes in the coming years.

South Africa

Coming in the third position is South Africa. In the previous Olympics held in Rio, they were in position 2 with ten medals, but the medal count has dropped to only three this year. The year wasn’t that great for the South Africans since the performance was not pleasing. 

South Africa took home one gold medal and two silver medals only. The team has to go back to the drawing board and to come up with a solution going forward. On the overall medal standings, South Africa was positioned 52. 

Egypt

Despite sending a convoy of 133 athletes, the Egyptians returned home with six medals consisting of 1 gold, one silver, and four bronze medals. That might be considered an improvement on the team’s side since Egypt had a total of 3 medals, holding position 5th in Africa in the last summer Olympics. 

From this improvement, it seems like the strategy employed by the team is working in their favor. Going by the current statistics, the future appears to be promising for the Egyptian side. The team wrapped up the event in position 54 in the overall medal standings. 

Ethiopia

When it comes to the long races, it is challenging to miss the Ethiopian team. However, despite the high expectations, mainly on the long races, their performance was not up to par since they dropped from the 3rd position to fifth. Ethiopia had four medals which include; 1 gold, one silver, and two bronze medals. That shows the team needs to pull up into their training to reclaim their position in the coming events.

Other countries in Africa that made it to the medal table are Tunisia, Morocco, Nigeria, Namibia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, the Ivory Coast, and Ghana.