South Africa

SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa first participated in  the Olympic Games in 1904, and sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games until 1960.

But in 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984 and 1988 they didn’t participate.

The other countries of Africa boycotted them because of South Africa had policy of Apartheid.

Apartheid was a system of racial segregation. It classified inhabitants into four racial groups: native, white, colored and Asian. The  government segregated education , medical care, beaches, and other public services, and provided black people with services inferior to those of white people. The Apartheid was finished in     1990 by Nelson Mandela.

South Africa won 20 gold medals, 24 silver medals and 26 bronze medals.

The first man to win one medal was Lawrence Stevens. He was a boxer who won the gold medal in the lightweight in 1932; but he was an athlete too.

The last person who won a medal was Mokoena. He is an athlete and obtained  the silver medal in long jump in Beijing in 2008. He won other championships too, for example the triple jump in World Junior Championships in 2004, the long jump in World Indoor Championships in 2008, and the long jump in African Championships in 2010. He has two national records: one in long jump and the other in triple jump.

www.whoswhosa.co.za/khotso-mokoena-5592en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godfrey_Khotso_Mokoena

                          

New Zealand

OLYMPIC GAMES: NEW ZEALAND

HISTORY

  New Zealand first participated at the Olympic Games in 1908, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then. For New Zealand's participation in the 1976 Games was controversial, and led to a boycott of the Games by most African countries, who protested against sporting contacts between the All Blacks and apartheid South Africa.

  New Zealand has also participated in most Winter Olympic Games since 1952, missing only the 1956 and 1964 Games.

PARTICIPATION

  New Zealand, as with other Southern Hemisphere countries has had the disadvantage of needing to peak to compete in summer sports which are held during their winter months. Only two Olympics have ever been held in the Southern Hemisphere, in Melbourne and Sydney.

  In 1992, Annelise Coberger of New Zealand became the first person from the Southern Hemisphere to win a medal at the Winter Olympics when she won silver in the slalom at Albertville in France.

CURIOSITIES

The All Blacks:

  They are called All Blacks because their uniform is totally black. The people know them also like “Kiwis” because this is a typical bird from New Zealand.

   The All Blacks perform a Haka before each international match. The Haka is a typical war dance from the mãori people of New Zealand.

At present, it’s the best rugby team in the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org

Jamaica

JAMAICA     

Jamaica in the Olympic Games is represented by the Olympic Committee of Jamaica. Jamaica started taking part in the Olympic Games in 1948 and since then it has not stopped sending athletes to every Olympiad. Jamaica is  the country with the best runners of the history.

Event	*	*	*	Total
London 1948	1	2	0	3
Helsinki 1952	2	3	0	5
Mexico 1968	2	1	0	3
Munich 1972	0	0	1	1
Montreal 1976	1	1	0	2
Moscow 1980	0	0	3	3
Los Angeles 1984	0	1	2	3
Seul 1988	0	2	0	2
Barcelona 1992	0	3	1	4
Atlanta 1996	1	3	2	6
Sindey 2000	0	4	3	7
Athens 2004	2	1	2	5
Bejing 2008	6	3	2	11
Total	13	24	15	52

Jamaica, without any doubt, is one of the nations that always has stood out for his big runners. Usain Bolt is one of his best runners in history .He is one of the stars that more stood out in Pekin 2008. The Jamaican athletes` specialties are the speed tests that had impressed to the whole world. They obtained easily three medals of gold, and three new world records.Merlene Ottey in 1980 (Olympic Games of Moscow) turns into the first Jamaican woman winner of an Olympian medal on having been a bronze in them 200m. She was one of the big runners of the 80s and 90s.

Shelly-Ann Fraser  is a Jamaican athlete. She represented Jamaica in the Olympic Games of Beijing 2008, winning in the test of 100  meters  with a time of 10,78 seconds. The test had the extraordinary peculiarity  that the three  first rivals  were Jamaican, and that Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson obtained the second and the third place sharing  the silver and bronze medals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaica_at_the_Olympics 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlene_Ottey 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usain_Bolt

Ireland

A team representing Ireland has competed at the Summer Olympic Games since 1924, and at the Winter Olympic Games since 1992.

Sports highlights are athletics, swimming, boxing and sailing.

Athletics: Athletics has seen some of Ireland's highest performers at the Olympics, with several Irish athletes performing well. 

Eamonn Coghlan

He was born in 1952 in Drimnagh, Dublin (Ireland). He began to compete in United States. He didn’t win any medal, but he was the first to participate in the middle distance when he was older than 40 (with 41)

Ron Delany

He was born in Arklond in 1935, but his family emigrated to Dublin when he was six years old. His specialty was the middle distance. He only won a gold medal at the Olympics Games in Melbourne in 1956.

Boxing: Boxing, which was once one of Ireland’s most popular sports, is now regaining popularity. In recent years Ireland’s amateur boxers have won medals at numerous top level competitions worldwide including Olympics.

Darren John Sutherland

He was a famous boxer that won the bronze medal in the Olympics Games of Beijing in the middleweight category (75kg.) He died with only 27 years old.

CURIOSITIES 

Ireland first competed at the Olympic Games in 1924 as Irish Free State. Prior to this, Irish athletes competed as part of Great Britain. 

In 1996, Ireland's Michelle Smith won three gold and a bronze in swimming. Smith was accused of using performance-enhancing drugs; this remained unproven, but she was suspended in 1998 for tampering with a urine sample.

http://www.topendsports.com/events/summer/countries/ireland.h

http://europa.eu/about-eu/countries/member-countries/ireland/index_es.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland_at_the_Olympics#Political_issues
http://www.daily-news.eu/es/deporte/ir

SPORTS AND SPORTS PEOPLE HIGHLIGHTS

India

INDIA

General information

National sport: Hockey

Outstanding sport: Cricket

First participation in the Olympic Games: It was in Paris, in 1900

Olympic medals: 20 medals.

Some of the medals that India won:


Country        Gold              Silver             Bronze          Total

Beijing 2008	1	0	2	3
Athens  2004	0	1	0	1
Sydney 2000	0	0	1	1
Atlanta 1996	0	0	1	1
Moscow 1992	1	0	0	1
Paris 1900	0	2	0	2

Total: 20 medals.

India in the Olympic Games

India participated in Olympic Games for the first time in 1900, with only one sportsman, and he won two medals in athletics. In 1920, India participated in the Summer Games too, and since that year they participated in all. Since 1964 they participated in some Winter Games.

India won 20 medals, specially in hockey on grass. They won 11 medals in hockey on grass between 1928 and 1980. The Beijing games were the best games in the history of India, because they won three medals in three diferents sport.

HOCKEY

The sport of Hockey is referred to as the “National Game of India”

“HOCKEY INDIA” (HI) is the new corporation that coordinates all the activities that are related to hockey in India.  It is on grass. It is the national sport, but the most popular sport is cricket.

The national Cricket team was formed on 20th May 2009.

“HI” works with other international sport associations like “international Hockey Federation”.

CRICKET

Cricket is the most popular sport in India. You have to hit the ball with a bat to go under hoops. This sport only participated in the Olympic Games in 1900 (Paris). The national Indian cricket team won   1983 Cricket World Cup, the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, and the 2011 Cricket World Cup.

The most important sportsman in India:

Leander Paes

He’s a professional tennis player from Calcutta.

He was born on 17th June of 1973. He won a bronze medal in the OOoOoooovbrgejlympic Games of 1996 (Atlanta), and 50 sports titles more. His specialties are the doubles. He was the first in the world ranking in this category.                                                                                                                              

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cricket_in_India

http://www.hockeyindia.org/

http://www.juegosenlondres2012.com/paises/india