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David Rudisha is among the 800m favourites

Kenya

Kenya, Ethiopia to lead African medal hunt in London

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 7 – Kenya and Ethiopia are set to continue their traditional role as the strongest African medal contenders at the Olympics.

While South Africa may be unable to match the men and women from East Africa in podium appearances, they are desperate to better a dismal showing in Beijing four years ago when 253 athletes delivered just one medal between them.

Nigeria are another country who must believe the only way is up after a one silver and three bronze return from the 2008 Games and there are bound to be surprises from African unknowns preparing under the radar.

Some Africans have gone to the ends of the earth to try and secure places at the July 27-August 12 Games with the South African men’s and women’s hockey teams and the Angolan basketball side displaying indomitable spirit.

The South African men’s hockey team qualified by winning a tournament in Japan and the women did likewise in India after domestic Olympic bosses ruled that being the best in Africa was not good enough.

Angola came second behind Tunisia in the African basketball championships to miss automatic qualification so they flew to Venezuela this week and are competing with 11 other countries for three ‘wild card’ places.

Kenya fared best among the African countries in Beijing with six gold, four silver and four bronze — a 14-medal haul that doubled the number they brought back from the 2004 Athens Olympics.

A third-place finish on the 2011 world athletics championships medals table in South Korea confirmed the Kenyans as major international players, but also brought a warning from coach Colm O’Connell.

“Kenyans will not be satisfied unless the athletes bring back gold and the pressure on them in London is going to be tremendous,” said the Ireland-born trainer of 20 Olympic and world champions.

While the unexplained death of Beijing marathon champion Samuel Wanjiru still casts shadows, Wilson Kipsang, Abel Kirui and Emmanuel Mutai were chosen from 278 hopefuls and are considered worthy successors.

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The women’s marathon team of Mary Keitany, Edna Kiplagat and Priscah Jeptoo has its sights on gold after the 2004 and 2008 silvers of Catherine Ndereba and there are high hopes for Vivian Cheruiyot in the 5,000-metre and 10,000m races.

David Rudisha is among the 800m favourites

David Rudisha is among the 800m favourites, but could face strong competition from rapidly improving 18-year-old Mohamed Aman of Ethiopia, a country more renowned for brilliant long distance runners.

Among the greatest was veteran Haile Gebrselassie, who failed at 39 to qualify for London, but believes he is handing the baton to a new, even more exciting generation of athletes with Kenenisa Bekele at the forefront.

Reigning Olympic 5,000m and 10,000m champion Bekele overcame calf and knee injuries and a ban for not attending a mandatory national training camp to post the third fastest 10,000m time in the world this year.

“I hope to show the world great things,” was his ominous message after the race in English city Birmingham. “I still have time to prepare for the Olympics and need to work on my endurance.”

LJ van Zyl in the 400m hurdles, Caster Semenya in the 800m, where her rivals include defending champion Pamela Jelimo of Kenya, and javelin thrower Sunette Viljoen are considered the best South African hopes for athletics medals.

Cameroon van der Burgh (100m breaststroke) and Chad le Clos (200m butterfly) are set to pose the strongest challenges in the swimming pool with both ranked within the top three this year in their disciplines.

Africa has excelled at football in recent Games thanks to Ghana (1992 bronze), Nigeria (1996 gold and 2008 silver) and Cameroon (2000 gold), but all fell by the wayside during the qualifiers.

Egypt, Morocco and debutants Gabon and Senegal qualified for the 16-team men’s tournament while South Africa and Cameroon face powerful competition in the 12-nation women’s competition.

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