Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, from 5 to 21 August 2016. This was the nation's thirteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics, although it marked its official debut in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

under the name ''Northern Rhodesia''. Zambia missed the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 P ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

, because of its partial support to the African boycott. The National Olympic Committee of Zambia (NOCZ) sent a team of seven athletes, five men and two women, to compete in four different sports at the Games, matching its roster size with

London 2012 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 ...

. The Zambian delegation featured two returning Olympians from the previous Games, including freestyle swimmer Jade Ashleigh Howard and sprinter

Gerald Phiri Gerald Phiri (born 6 October 1988) is a Zambian sprinter who participates in 60 metre, 100 metre and 200 metre events in both indoor and outdoor events. He began competing in athletics while in school and continued his career at Texas A&M Unive ...

in the men's 100 metres. 20-year-old swimmer and 2014 Youth Olympian Ralph Goveia (men's 100 m butterfly) was Zambia's youngest competitor, while half-lightweight judoka Mathews Punza (men's 66 kg), the oldest of the team (aged 28), served as the nation's flag bearer in the opening ceremony. Zambia, however, failed to win a single Olympic medal since the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in Atlanta, where Samuel Matete bagged a silver in the men's 400 m hurdles. Punza and sprinter Kabange Mupopo (women's 400 metres) were the only Zambians to progress beyond the first round of their respective sporting events at the Games, but neither of them reached the final and had the opportunity to end their nation's 20-year podium drought.

Athletics (track and field)

Zambian athletes have so far achieved qualifying standards in the following athletics events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event): ;Track & road events ;Key *Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only *Q = Qualified for the next round *q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser ''or'', in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target *NR = National record *SB = Seasonal best *N/A = Round not applicable for the event *Bye = Athlete not required to compete in round

Boxing

Zambia has received an invitation from the Tripartite Commission to send a male boxer competing in the middleweight division to the Games.

Judo

Zambia has qualified one judoka for the men's half-lightweight category (66 kg) at the Games. Mathews Punza earned a continental quota spot from the African region, as Zambia's top-ranked judoka outside of direct qualifying position in the IJF World Ranking List of May 30, 2016.

Swimming

Zambia has received a Universality invitation from

FINA FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

to send two swimmers (one male and one female) to the Olympics.

References

External links

* {{Country at games navbox, Zambia, Summer Olympics Nations at the 2016 Summer Olympics

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

Olympics