London 2012 : The best athletes out of Africa

Athletes from 53 African countries came to London for the 2012 Olympic Games for a purpose. To win medals. Some won medals, some didn't make. Here are the continents best this year:

Segun Toriola - Nigeria: Table tennis player

Segun Toriola is Africa's most-decorated table tennis player. London 2012 will be his sixth Olympics - his first was Barcelona 1992.

In Beijing four years ago, he became the first African so far to make it to the quarter-finals.

The youngest of nine brothers, he plays professionally in France.

A former Commonwealth champion, he has also won every major honour in Africa, dominating the sport there for nearly two decades. But at the age of 38, London 2012 could well be his last Olympics. He beat Canada's Andre Ho 4-1 in the Olympic men's Table tennis to win the men's singles preliminaries at the 2012 London Games.

 Chioma Ajunwa - Nigeria: Long jump

Long jumper Chioma Ajunwa, Nigeria's only individual gold medalist, is a true national hero. Not only did she become the first African woman to win gold in a field event with her 1996 victory, but she has also played football for the Nigerian women's team and was serving as a police officer at the time of her Olympic win. 

Benjamin Boukpeti - Togo: Canoeist

Benjamin Boukpeti's bronze in the men's single kayak slalom in Beijing was the first Olympic medal in Togo's history.

He was also the first black man to win a medal in a slalom event.

Benjamin was born in France to a French mother and Togolese father.

He has struggled with injuries since Beijing. He entered his third Olympics with high hopes but came 10th in the finals.

Kirsty Coventry - Zimbabwe: Swimmer

Kirsty Coventry holds the world record for the 200m backstroke and over her two previous Olympic Games she has won two gold medals, four silvers and a bronze.

The 28-year-old is seen as a national treasure in Zimbabwe - "our golden girl" President Robert Mugabe calls her - and has been voted African Swimmer of the Year five times. In the London 2012 finals she came 6th.

Blessing Okhagbare - Nigeria: 100m

Famed for her hairstyle, Blessing Okagbare's performance in the 100m sprint was faultless  during the qualifying and semi-finals, when she came first in the games but she ende up 8th in the finals.

Sifiso Nhlapo - South Africa: BMX rider

 

The 25 year-old is a former world silver and bronze medallist, Sifiso Nhlapo has represented South Africa at the World Championships a record nine times.

In Beijing - when BMX made its Olympic debut - he was in contention for a medal when he crashed out, but he still made the final.

Muizat Odumosu - Nigeria: 400m Hurdles

Muizat Ajoke Odumosu qualified for Finals in the Olympic Women’s Athletics 400m Hurdles winning the semi-finals. A world class track and field athlete specializing in the 400 metres and the 400 metres hurdles. She won bronze at the 2007 All-Africa Games and went on to become the African champion at the 2008 African Championships. In the 2008 Summer Olympics and at the World Championships in Athletics in 2007 and 2009 she came out on top.

SHe is the 2010 Commonwealth champion, runner up of the Africa at the Continental Cup and she is an African Championships medalist.

Aya Medany - Egypt: Modern pentathlete

After making her Olympic debut at the Athens Games in 2004, aged just 15, Aya Medany is now one of the most recognisable sports stars in Egypt.

Her sport - the modern pentathlon - demands that she fence, swim, ride horses, run and shoot.

Her religious beliefs demand she do it wearing specific clothing.

She is the only elite pentathlete who competes wearing a hijab.

London 2012 is her third Olympics and she has been a credit to the continent.

Caster Semenya - South Africa: 800m runner

When Caster Semenya stormed to victory at the World Championships in Berlin in 2009, she also ran into a storm of speculation over whether or not she was female.

But although she has struggled to reproduce her world-beating form of 2009, she has been talking up her chances of breaking the 800m world record - the longest standing women's world record in the sport - set in 1983. So far, she has shoen good form. And with former world and Olympic champion Maria Mutola as her coach, Semenya is in good hands.

Tirunesh Dibaba - Ethiopia: 5,000m and 10,000m runner

Defending Olympic champion at both 5,000m and 10,000m, Tirunesh Dibaba is regarded by many as the fastest finisher in the history of women's distance running.

Since the Beijing Olympics, she has struggled with injuries - leading to lengthy lay-offs from running. But her form suggests she may be on the way back to her best.

One of the most-anticipated events of London 2012 is her clash with fellow Ethiopian Meseret Defar and the formidable Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot. Tirunesh Dibaba won the first track gold of the London 2012 Games when she successfully defended her 10000m title.

Amantle Montsho - Botswana: 400m runner

The world, Commonwealth and African champion, Amantle Montsho will be chasing her country's first Olympic medal so far in London 2012, her third Olympic Games.

In Athens she failed to get beyond the heats, in Beijing she made the final, but in London she is the favourite for gold.

Her strength and speed have improved considerably since Beijing and she is now the woman to beat over one lap.

She came 1st in the Women's finals and 4th in the finalsm missing out on an Olympic gold medal.

Mary Keitany - Kenya: Marathon runner

Three years ago, Mary Keitany caught the world's attention by winning the World Half-Marathon Championship.

She followed that up by smashing the world record for the distance - a record she still holds.

Since she stepped up to the full marathon distance, she has been just as impressive.

Two third places in New York came either side of a stunning victory in London in what was the fourth-fastest time in history. Tiki Gelana took marathon gold as GB's Mara Yamauchi droped out of the London 2012 games.

David Rudisha - Kenya: 800m runner

 

World champion and world record holder, David Rudisha has dominated the 800m for the past two years.

In August 2010, he broke the world record twice inside a week and then took gold at last year's World Championships in South Korea.

Kenya’s David Rudisha is a marvel to watch, not because he nearly always wins at 800 meters (40 of his past 41 races), but because he wins by so much.

London 2012 in his first Olympic experience - he missed out on Beijing through injury.

His father, Daniel, won silver in Mexico City in 1968. So far so good.

Nigerian athletes, Regina George and Omolara Omotosho, went through to the semi-fnals of the London 2012 Olympics Games women’s 400m race.
Regina dusted five other athletes to win Heat Seven in a time of 51.24secs.
Omotosho emerged fourth in Heat Three in a time of 52.11secs.