Powerhouse nations like China, the US and Russia might grab all the Olympic gold medal attention, but the world’s sporting minnows plan to grab at least some of the limelight.
While some nations might whinge about winning dozens of medals, others will be glad of just one — and a bronze at that.
More than 80 countries competing in Beijing have never before been on the Olympic podium. For a myriad of reasons — political, geographical, financial — their sporting prowess has never matured.
Tiny Brunei might be oil rich, but when it comes to producing athletes it is lacking big time. The small monarchy on the island of Borneo will be competing in its fifth Summer Olympics, but will inevitably go home empty-handed.
Bhutan is bigger than Brunei, but remains one of the most secluded countries in the world, tucked between Asian heavyweights China and India.
Their national sport is archery — competitions are held regularly in villages throughout the monarchy — and they have an outside chance after six Games with no joy.
The Maldives, like Brunei, has a population of less than 400,000 and has similarly lacked medals. Being a series of tropical islands it is not surprising that their best hope this year is in swimming.
East Timor, one of the world’s poorest countries, became the first new nation of the 21st century when it declared independence from Indonesia in 2002, just in time to send a team to Athens. Its key sports are boxing, weightlifting, taekwondo and athletics.
But severe shortages of money, facilities and equipment means the nation faces more obstacles than most in achieving its Olympic dream and only marathon runners Antonio Ramos and Mariana Diaz Ximenez will be in Beijing.
“In all the other sports we cannot qualify to participate in Beijing. Sport is not a priority for the government of East Timor and our infrastructure is non-existent,” said Joao Carrascalao, the head of Timor’s Olympic committee. “We don’t have any hope of winning the marathon, but to finish the marathon is already an achievement.”
War-torn Iraq is sending a team of six athletes under the Olympic flag in lieu of their own after a spat with the International Olympic Committee led to the suspension of Iraq’s Olympic committee.
Like other countries, Iraq suffers from a lack of support for sport.
“The attention and the support that athletes at the national level are supposed to get is absent, morally, physically and materially. It has had a huge impact on me,” said weightlifter Sawara Mohammed, one of the competitors.
A handful of nations have won just one bronze medal, including Iraq, Kuwait, Niger, Kyrgyzstan and Guyana.
Panama and Qatar have two bronze each, while Vietnam, Paraguay, Tonga and Senegal have a silver medal to their name.
There have been some surprising flops over the years, with countries like Malaysia only ever collecting three medals, on a par with Iceland.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting
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