East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

, also known as Timor-Leste and officially as the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, competed at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, held from July 27 to August 12, 2012. This was the nation's fourth appearance at the Olympics, although it was first appeared as part of the

Individual Olympic Athletes Athletes have competed as independent Olympians at the Olympic Games for various reasons, including political transition, international sanctions, suspensions of National Olympic Committees, and compassion. Independent athletes have come from ...

. Two marathon runners were selected to the team by wildcard places, without having qualified at any sporting event. East Timor, however, has yet to win its first Olympic medal. Augusto Ramos Soares and Juventina Napoleão were the only Timorese athletes competing at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Soares was coached by

Agueda Amaral Aguida (or Agueda) Amaral (born 27 May 1972) is an East Timorese athlete. She was one of the first athletes to represent East Timor at the Olympic Games, and the first woman to represent the nation, when she ran the marathon at the 2000 Summer ...

, one of East Timor's most famous athletes, who represented Timor Leste at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

in Sydney, Australia. Unlike Amaral, who trained in a refugee camp, Soares trained in Portugal in mid-June earlier that year.

Athletics

East Timor qualified two runners.London 2012: Timor-Leste athletes do it for national pride
/ref> ;Men Augusto Ramos Soares represented East Timor at the London Games as the nation's only male track runner. He had not competed at any Olympic games. The men's marathon took place on August 12, with Soares competing against 109 athletes. The East Timorese athlete finished the competition in 2:45:09 and placed 84th out of the 85 finishing competitors, displacing Tsepo Ramonene of

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

(2:55:54) but falling behind

Juan Carlos Cardona Juan Carlos Cardona Rivas (born September 7, 1974 in Jardin, Antioquia) is a male marathon runner from Colombia, who thrice represented his native country in the men's marathon at the Summer Olympics (2004, 2008 and 2012). He won the 2007 ed ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

(2:40:13). In comparison, the gold medalist

Stephen Kiprotich Stephen Kiprotich ("KIP-roh-tich", born 27 February 1989) is a Ugandan long-distance runner. He is an Olympic marathon champion, having won the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. Kiprotich also won a gold at the 2013 World Championships in ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

finished in 2:08:01. ;Women Juventina Napoleão represented East Timor at the London Olympics as its only female track athlete. She had not competed at the Olympic games. The race took place on August 5, with Napoleão facing 117 athletes. She finished the race in 3:05:07, placing 106th out of the 107th athletes; she finished ahead of Caitriona Jennings of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

(3:22:11) and behind Ni Lar San of

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

(3:04:27). In comparison,

Tiki Gelana Erba Tiki Gelana ( am, ኧርባ ቲኪ ገላና; born 22 October 1987) is an Ethiopian professional long-distance runner who competes in marathon races. Her personal best of 2:18:58 had been the Ethiopian national record for the event from 2012 ...

won the gold medal with an Olympic-record-breaking 2:23:07.

References

External links

* {{Country at games navbox, East Timor, Olympics Nations at the 2012 Summer Olympics

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...