Phelps and ‘match-throwing’ dominate Olympics first week

It’s a shame there is virtually little to write about concerning our athletes after the first week of the London Olympic Games, which have been dominated by Michael Phelps and ‘match-throwing’ charges.In Athens 2004, the American swimming sensation Phelps was just a hero to the young swimmers around the world, after the Beijing Games where he won eight medals, he become a legend but it’s the London Games where he has gone from being just a legend to a great—the greatest Olympian ever. Phelps, 27, who is planning to retire after the London Games, won his 21st Olympic medal after dominating the final of the men’s 100m butterfly on Friday night. It was his 17th Olympic gold medal, the third and fifth overall of these Games—he had a chance to extend his phenomenon record medal haul to 22 in last night’s relay final. Rwanda’s woesBut while the American was proving to even his strongest critic why he deserves to be regarded the greatest Olympian ever, Rwandan swimmers Jackson Niyomugabo and Alphonsine Agahozo once again proved why no Rwandan athlete has ever won an Olympic medal.Two-time Olympian Niyomugabo was the first Rwandan to compete in London on Thursday and there was no surprise that was also the first to exit after failing to progress from the preliminary round of the 50-metres freestyle despite finishing fourth in 27:38. An Eritrean, an Egyptian and a guy from American Samoa took the first three positions.Next was 16-year old Agahozo in the women’s 50-metres freestyle on Friday and the story wasn’t very different from what was expected only that she at least managed to finish third in her heat after clocking 30:72, 0.71 seconds behind the winner from Antigua and Barbuda, which wasn’t enough to qualify her for the semi-finals.When the most popular bit of the Olympic Games, the Track and Field events got underway on Saturday, Rwanda’s Claudette Mukasakindi was pulled out of the women’s 10,000m race very late, and instead entered for Sunday’s full marathon.In her absense, Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba took gold in 30 minutes, 20.75 seconds. Two Kenyans took silver and bronze.It was a tactical move by the coach and probably by the runner herself to pull out of the 10,000m and go for the marathon, but whether it makes any sense in terms of her chances of winning a medal or just doing well, remains to be seen. Did she have any chance against a strong field that was dominated by Kenyans and Ethiopians? Not in a million times. Does she have a chance in the marathon? A big NO from me. You can call me cynical, but winning an Olympics medal takes far more than just one week of meaningful training under conducive conditions, the way Rwandan athletes do.Robert Kajuga was in action Saturday night in the men’s 10,000m final and hopes were that he could atleast improve his personal best than going for the big prize, which, whether well prepared or not, was always going to be asking too much of him in one of the most competitive race in the Olympic Games.Match-throwing scandal But the London Games will not be remembered just for Phelps’ records or the much anticipated men’s 100-metre sprint duel between rivals and training partners Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake but also for the eight badminton female players, who were disqualified for “not doing enough to win” their preliminary matches.Four South Korean, two Chinese and two Indonesian players were charged by the Badminton World governing body for “attempting to lose” their respective doubles’ matches in order to get a more favourable draw for the knockout rounds.It all happened very fast and dreams were shattered, but while one can not condone what the eight players did, disqualifying them for trying to gain advantage for their countries was a bit harsh.However, if the organizers are really serious on fighting such behaviours/actions, why was Great Britain’s gold medal winner (Philip Hindes) not reprimanded after he admitted to deliberately crashing his bike in the first round of the team sprint?Hindes, who was riding along with Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny, on realising he had made a poor start, skidded a few metres after the start and deliberately brought his bike to ground in order to allow Britain to restart after. His ploy worked, Britain got a restart and went on to the competition on Thursday night as they defeated France in a world record time of 42.600. However, even after his confession, no action was taken against him or Team GB!Is what Hindes did any different from what the eight women badminton players did and were disqualified? The similarities of both cases and the contrary outcome go along way to show how the Olympics governing body operates with double standards. Doesn’t ‘sportsmanship’ apply to all players? Anyway, Goodluck to our remaining athletes including Jean Pierre Mvuyekure and Adrien Niyonshuti, who both compete in the men’s full marathon and mountain bike respectively on August 12.