Cape Verde at the Olympic Games
As the Olympic Games in Rio start to heat up, we take a look at Cape Verde’s drive to win their first medal.
Their first involvement in the Olympics was the 1996 Atlanta Games, where four athletes took part in sports including the marathon, athletics and gymnastics. The archipelago has sent athletes to every Summer Olympics since, but unfortunately they are yet to win a medal.
This year, the excitement started as soon as the athletes entered the stadium on the first day of celebrations. Tourism is clearly a huge part of the economic make-up of the country, as suggested in a recent report, as the Opening Ceremony commentary even noted the availability of flights from the UK.
“Rated recently as one of the safest places in the world to take a holiday. Flights from Britain go direct from Manchester, Gatwick and Birmingham, that is a non-EU option for you.” Clare Balding (01:32:14)
Credit: The Hindustan Times
In total, Cape Verde has five competitors hoping to be the first to win a medal for their country. Jordin Andrade will be a men’s 400m hurdles challenger while Lidiane Lopes will be racing the competitive women’s 100m. Over in the boxing, Cape Verde has one entry in the Super heavyweight event, Davilson Morais – he is competing for the second time following his former appearance in the 2004 Games. Elyane Boal has secured a spot in the individual rhythmic gymnastics event, which marks the third time that Cape Verde has entered a competitor into the sport. Finally, the Islands have one athlete in the taekwando competition, Maria Andrade, who is eyeing glory in the women’s flyweight category under 49kg.
It’s not the first taste of the Olympics Cape Verde has had recently, as The Resort Group PLC recently sponsored the CPLP Games – a young athlete event for Portuguese speaking countries that took place on the Islands just last month. With three gold, two silver and six bronze, Cape Verde had a healthy medal count. The whole country will be watching eagerly to see if they can take home their first medal from Rio and The Resort Group PLC wishes all competitors the best of luck during these exciting two weeks.