African Games

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The African Games, also known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union (AU) with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) and the Association of African Sports Confederations (AASC).

All of the competing nations are from the African continent. The first Games were held in 1965 in Brazzaville, Congo. The International Olympic Committee granted official recognition as a continental multi-sport event, along with the Asian Games and Pan American Games. Since 1999, the Games have also included athletes with a disability.^[1]

The Supreme Council for Sport in Africa (SCSA) was the organisation body for the game. On 26 July 2013, the Extraordinary Assembly of the Supreme Council for Sports held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast that was held on the sidelines of the 5th Session of the African Union Conference of Sports Ministers that started on 22 July 2013 recommended the dissolution of the Supreme Council for Sport in Africa and to also transfer all functions, assets & liabilities of SCSA to the African Union Commission.^[2][3] The organization of the African Games is now managed by three parts, the AU (the owners of the game), the ANOCA (occupying the technical aspects) and the AASC (developing marketing policy, sponsorship and research resources).

After running previous 11 editions as the All-Africa Games, the games has been renamed the African Games. The decision for the name change was arrived at, during the Executive Council meeting of the African Union held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in January 2012.^[4]

History

Beginning

Modern Olympics founder Pierre de Coubertin conceived the Pan African Games as early as 1920. The colonial powers who ruled Africa at the time were wary of the idea, suspecting the unifying aspect of sport among African people would cause them to assert their independence.

Attempts were made to host the games in Algiers, Algeria in 1925 and Alexandria, Egypt in 1928, but despite considerable preparations taken by coordinators, the efforts failed. The International Olympic Committee's (IOC) first African member, Greek-born Egyptian sprinter Angelo Bolanaki, donated funds to erect a stadium, but still the Games were set back for another three decades.

The Friendship Games

In the early 1960s, French-speaking countries of Africa including france organized the Friendship Games. The Games were organized by Madagascar (1960) and then Côte d'Ivoire (1961). The third games were set for Senegal in 1963. Before they were completed, African Ministers of Youth and Sport met in Paris in 1962; as a few English-speaking countries were already participating, they rechristened the Games as the Pan African Games. The Games were granted official recognition by the IOC as being on par with other continental Games such as the Asian Games and the Pan American Games.

The games

In July 1965, the first games were held in Brazzaville, Congo, now called the All-Africa Games. From 30 countries, around 2,500 athletes competed. Egypt topped the medal count for the first Games.

In 1966, the SCSA was organized in Bamako; it manages the All-Africa Games. The second edition were awarded to Mali in 1969, but a military coup forced the cancellation of the Games. Lagos, Nigeria stepped in as host for the Games in 1971. Those Games were finally held in 1973 due to the Biafra War, which had just ended in Nigeria.

In 1977, the 3rd Games were scheduled to take place in Algeria but due to technical reasons had to be postponed for a year and were held in 1978. Continuing the pattern, the next Games were scheduled to take place in Kenya in 1983, but were pushed back to 1985 and finally took place in Nairobi in 1987.

The four-year Olympic rhythm has not missed a beat since, and the Games have been organized in Cairo, Harare, Johannesburg, and Abuja. In 2007, Algiers once again hosted, becoming the first repeat host. The 2011 edition of the All-Africa Games was held in Maputo, Mozambique in September 2011. Brazzaville hosted the 2015 edition in honor of the Games' 50th anniversary.

Participation

All 53 members affiliated to the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) are eligible to take part in the Games. In history, the 53 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have sent competitors to the Games.

South Africa was banned since the beginning of the games in the 1965 All-Africa Games till the 1995 All-Africa Games because Apartheid (a discriminatory policy against black Africans and other people of color) officially ended when it was invited for the first time to compete the games.

Morocco was banned from the games from the 1987 All-Africa Games onwards because of a political dispute over Western Sahara. Morocco claims the territory as its "Southern Provinces" and controls 80% of it while the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which claims it to be a sovereign state controls the remaining 20% as the "Free Zone".

Editions

1965, 2015

1973

1978, 2007

1987

1991

1995

1999

2003

2011

Host cities of the African Games

Year	Games	Host Country	Host City	Opened by	Dates	Nations	Competitors			Sports	Events	Top Country On Medal Table
							Men	Women	Total
1965	I	Republic of Congo	Brazzaville	Alphonse Massemba-Débat	18–25 July	30			2500	10	54	United Arab Republic
1969	–	Mali	Bamako	Disrupted by Military Coup
1973	II	Nigeria	Lagos	Yakubu Gowon	7–18 January	36				12	92	Egypt
1978	III	Algeria	Algiers	Houari Boumediene	13–28 July	45			3000	12	117	Tunisia
1987	IV	Kenya	Nairobi	Daniel arap Moi	1–12 August	41				14	164	Egypt
1991	V	Egypt	Cairo	Hosni Mubarak	20 September–1 October	43				18	213	Egypt
1995	VI	Zimbabwe	Harare	Robert Mugabe	13–23 September	46			6000	19	224	South Africa
1999	VII	South Africa	Johannesburg	Thabo Mbeki	10–19 September	51			6000	20	224	South Africa
2003	VIII	Nigeria	Abuja	Olusegun Obasanjo	5–17 October	50			6000	22	332	Egypt
2007	IX	Algeria	Algiers	Abdelaziz Bouteflika	11–23 July	52			4793	27	374	Egypt
2011	X	Mozambique	Maputo	Armando Guebuza	3–18 September	53			5000	20	249	South Africa
2015	XI	Republic of Congo	Brazzaville	Denis Sassou Nguesso	4–19 September	54			15000	22	172	Egypt
2019	XII	Equatorial Guinea	Malabo		Future event

Sports

32 sports were presented in All-Africa Games history.

Medal count

50 nations have won at least a single medal in the All-Africa Games, from 54 National Olympic Committees participating throughout the history of the Games. 42 nations have won at least a single gold medal.

No.	Nation	Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Egypt (EGY)	11	548	406	408	1362
2	Nigeria (NGR)	11	381	360	337	1078
3	South Africa (RSA)	6	300	270	217	787
4	Algeria (ALG)	11	258	286	342	886
5	Tunisia (TUN)	11	182	158	184	524
6	Kenya (KEN)	11	107	116	130	353
7	Senegal (SEN)	11	55	58	110	223
8	Cameroon (CMR)	11	32	49	111	192
9	Ghana (GHA)	11	32	45	76	153
10	Ethiopia (ETH)	11	31	39	52	122
11	Zimbabwe (ZIM)	8	27	33	60	120
12	Ivory Coast (CIV)	11	21	25	44	90

Influence

After hearing about the Pan-African Games whilst on a business trip to Congo, Soviet Union-Armenian diplomat Ashot Melik-Shahnazaryan got the idea to create the Pan-Armenian Games.

See also

• Sport in Africa
• African Youth Games
• Africa Military Games

References

External links

• Background from official website
• Medal winners in various events
• Event at Ultraviewdirectory

Association of National Olympic Committees
African Games Asian Games European Games Pan American Games Pacific Games
Africa	ANOCA – Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa
Americas	PASO – Pan American Sports Organization
Asia	OCA – Olympic Council of Asia
Europe	EOC – European Olympic Committees
Oceania	ONOC – Oceania National Olympic Committees