With South Africa and Nigeria leading the way, Africa leaves the 2018 Commonwealth Games with a total of 97 medals, 34 of them gold.
South Africa won 37 medals, good enough for sixth place in the overall medal count. Nigeria placed ninth with a total of 24 medals. Kenya’s 17 total medal count landed it in 14th place in the overall medal count. Other African countries on the medals table included Uganda with 6 medals, Botswana with 5 medals, Namibia with 2 medals, Cameroon with 3 medals, Mauritius, Seychelles and Ghana, each with 1 medal.
Host country Australia led all countries with 198 medals, 80 of which were gold.
On the final day of the games, Africa’s medals came from Namibia’s Helalia Johannes who won the women’s marathon in two hours, 32.40 minutes, Uganda’s Munyo Mutai who won silver in a dramatic men’s marathon where Scotland’s Callum Hawkins collapsed inside the final five kilometers after leading for most of the race.
With the competition finally completed, the focus now shifts to finding 13 African athletes who disappeared during the event.
8 Cameroonian athletes—five boxers and three weightlifters—disappeared from the games, leading the team to believe they’d “deserted.” The remaining athletes are said to be from Uganda, Rwanda and Sierra Leone.
Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive David Grevenberg says assuring the welfare of the athletes is their upmost priority at the moment.
“The focus now is to support teams in trying to track down the athletes who are missing,” he said. “We share their concern regarding obviously the safety, welfare, whereabouts of these athletes,” he added.
Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has warned missing athletes, that if found, they will be forcibly removed if they stay passed May 15. That’s the date the visa expires for athletes who participated.
