Talent wasn't the problem; poor organisation and a paucity of resources were. As Gamal Nkrumah writes, that meant Africa's performance at the 2004 Olympics was lacklustre The question is: Why? Why Europe and not Africa? Why Italy and not Mali? Africa's best soccer team in Athens, Mali, was beaten 1-0 after extra time by Italy. In Athens, Ghana, Morocco and Tunisia football were eliminated in the first round while Mali lost to Italy in the quarter-finals, failing to secure even a bronze. I had high hopes for the Malian soccer team but they ended the match shattered and beaten. To their credit Mali maintained their composure until late in the game. They made a few tentative forward drives albeit all coming to naught. They simply could not hold on to the ball long enough to score. So that was the end of the African football experience in Athens -- a performance that was occasionally exciting but never classic. This time round in the Olympics the performance of African athletes in general was not up to par. Not only did African teams perform poorly but no African team won a medal at the 2004 Games. Nigeria and Cameroon football squads won gold at the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games respectively. Ghana won bronze in 1992. What happened in Athens? What reasons lay behind Africa being pummelled beyond recognition? And why have Africa's ambitions at the Olympic Games become so seriously compromised? As an African, I know that my people are simply the world's most gifted athletes. Athletics is dominated by people of African descent, the African-Americans and African-Caribbeans, for example. So why do continental Africans perform so poorly? All in all, Africa won 35 medals in Athens -- nine gold, 13 silver and 13 bronze. Australia, a country of less than 20 million people, also won 35 medals. Africa, by contrast, has a population of almost a billion. I really am seething with anger and bitterly disappointed. Africa's performance in Athens left much to be desired but there were some saving graces. The continent did better in individual sports, especially athletics. West Africans, who later metamorphosed into American speed demons, have long been considered the world's fastest short distance runners, and East Africans, the world's fastest long-distance runners. They both performed splendidly; the classic example for years to come will be Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele winning the 10,000 metres. North Africans, too, excelled in Athens. The Moroccan sprinters, in particular, held the continent's head up high. Hicham Al-Guerrouj and Adel Kaouch led the way in the men's 1,500m final. In spite of irritating respiratory difficulties, world record holder Al-Guerrouj finally won the gold in his third Olympic try. But Al-Guerrouj wasn't through, winning the 5,000 metres as well a few days later. And white Zimbabwean and South African swimmers scored impressively in the water. Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry was welcomed by none other than President Robert Mugabe himself, a man whose image is tarnished by the Western media as a hater of whites. He gallantly gave Coventry $50,000 and a diplomatic passport to boot. Should I commiserate with the teams that failed to grab gold medals? Africa's best performers now hold foreign passports -- American, British, French and God knows what. Nigerian-born sprinter Francis Obikwelu ran and won a silver medal for Portugal and not for his native Nigeria. Who can blame Obikwelu or the others? Their countries are ravaged by socio-economic ills, inextricably intertwined with poverty and underdevelopment. Many of Africa's best players declined to go to Athens. They preferred instead to remain in their Europe-based clubs. Indeed, European clubs are accused of preventing African players from representing their countries at major international tournaments. Africa's poor performance at the Olympics is a tricky subject to broach. What does Africa have to have to garner the gold medals? Africa did exceptionally well in the last three Olympics. In Sydney, Africa was at its scintillating best. And in Atlanta and Barcelona, too, Africa's athletes took the world by storm. In Athens, though, there were unfortunately a teeth-gnashingly large number of simple African errors that ultimately led to a lacklustre performance for a continent widely acclaimed for its raw and natural talent for sport. Money, or the lack of it, is the continent's perennial problem. It drives its most talented professionals, including sportsmen and sportswomen, to seek employment opportunities abroad. So is Africa simply battered or has the standard of the continent's sportsmen seriously declined? "I don't have a physio. It all costs money," lamented Cameroon's triple jumper Francoise Mbango Etobeni who scored gold for her country. The danger for African athletes is that for all their natural agility and raw talent they are not always in the correct physical and mental shape to resist the better trained and better funded American, European and Asian athletes. Asia's newfound wealth has left an indelible mark on the performance of its athletes. The continent is steadily gaining a reputation for excellence in sports. China's show of force in Athens was exceptional as was Japan's. Asia came into its own in Athens. The African experience was another story altogether.
