2012 Olympic Games

Africa had a disappointing Olympic Games with none appearing amongst the top 20 nations on the final medals table.

Four years ago in Beijing, Kenya (13th) and Ethiopia (18th) both finished among the top 20 nations, but in London, the top ranked African country was South Africa, who came 23rd overall with 3 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal.

They were followed by Ethiopia who were 24th overall with 3 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze medals, while Kenya could only manage to come 28th overall with 2 gold, 4 silver and 5 bronze medals.

Namibia failed to win a medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games, to prolong their medal drought at the world’s elite sporting spectacle to 16 years.

The last time that Namibia appeared on the winners podium was in 1996 in Atlanta when Frank Fredericks won two silver medals in the 100m and 200m.

But since then, in subsequent Games in Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Namibia has not won a medal. The closest that Namibia came to a medal came in 2004 when Fredericks, then 36 years old, came fourth in the 200m final.

Namibia’s Olympic wrestler Sem Shilimela got a big surprise when he returned home on Tuesday, as some of his Namibian supporters welcomed him back at the Hosea Kutako International Airport with a birthday cake.

The Namibian Olympic team received a subdued welcome with not many people turning up to welcome them back, but Shilimela was an exception as about 15 friends from the After School Centre Wrestling Club in Khomasdal turned up to welcome him back with a beautiful cake that they baked for his 21st birthday.

The president of the Namibia National Olympic Committee, Agnes Tjongarero could not hide her disappointment with Namibia’s performance at the Olympic Games, and called on the athletes to account why they did not win any medals.

Speaking on the team’s arrival back in Namibia at the Hosea Kutako International Airport, Tjongarero said they did all they could to help the team financially.

There were no medals but Namibia’s athletes at the Summer Olympic Games gave their all and did their country proud.

Competing against the best in the world, they held their own and achieved some personal milestones in the process.

As Minister of Sport Kazenambo Kazenambo summed it up afterwards, now is the time to evaluate Namibia’s performances while learning from the victors.

London 2012 will go down in history as the greatest Olympic Games of them all.

The athletes’ performances were superlative, the Opening and Closing Ceremonies mixed wondrous casts and visual effects with the best of British music and good old British humour, and the thousands of volunteers added a unique touch of British hospitality and friendliness, although the security at times was a bit over the top.

Even the legendary Usain Bolt had a skipping rope confiscated at one of the check points. But the greatest legacy of the Games was the fantastic support from the British public.

Marc Bassingthwaighte finished 30th in the Men’s Mountain Bike race at the Olympic Games on Sunday, finishing 8 minutes and 10 seconds behind the winner, Jaroslav Kulhavy of the Czech Republic.

It was a great ride by Bassingthwaighte who improved steadily as the race progressed. Despite starting at the back of the 50-man field, Bassingthwaighte moved up steadily to 37th position by the end of the first lap.

He maintained a steady pace and gradually moved up to 33rd position with two laps to go.

Mexico won the Olympic soccer title for the first time in their history when they defeated Brazil 2-1 at a packed Wembley Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Striker Oribe Peralta scored both their goals - the first after only 29 seconds with a clinical finish and the second on 75m with a powerful header from a corner.

Brazil scored a late consolation goal by Hulk in injury time but it was not enough as Mexico held on to win their first ever football gold medal at the Olympics.

Sem Shilimela’s participation in the Men’s 55kg Freestyle Wrestling competition at the Olympics came to an end when he lost 3-1 to Kyong Il Yang of North Korea in his second fight.

Shilimela had earlier lost 3-0 to Russia’s Dzhamal Otarsultanov, but since the Russian made it through to the final, Shilimela got a second chance to fight for the bronze medal in the Repechage round.

Shilimela gave a good account of himself but the North Korean speed and strength told as he took a 7-2 lead at the end of the first round.

On another sensational night at the Olympic Stadium, David Rudisha of Kenya broke the 800m world record while Usain Bolt nearly broke his own record as he won the 200m.

Rudisha ran a brilliant race to win the 800m in a new world record of 1:40.91, with Botswana’s 18-year-old Nijel Amos winning silver in a world junior record time of 1:41,73 and Kenya’s Timothy Kitum winning bronze in 1:42,53.

Rudisha took the lead from the start completing the first lap in a brilliant 49,3 seconds.