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Overview

Performance The level of performances was average on the whole. Rades' sports facilities include an Olympic stadium with more than 70.000 seats but the events were organised in the small athletics stadium (5000 seats). It's true though that the big one would have been too huge, considering that the small one has never been full. The problem with the latter is that it only has stands in the home straight, which do not shelter the track from the wind. And the wind was a real troublemaker during the championships, disturbing the athletes in middle-distance races as well as invalidating most of the performances in jumps. The athletes also complained about the fact that their hotels were too far away so that they had to spend too much time in transportation. In the medal table, South Africa (8 gold, 3 bronze) is first before Tunisia (5 gold, 6 silver, 9 bronze), Kenya (5 gold, 6 silver, 3 bronze), Morocco (4 gold, 1 silver, cinq bronze). Nigeria only ranks fifth. (3 gold, 5 silver, 2 bronze). Participation 42 countries took part in the competition, which is a record. However one third of the athletes came from Maghreb (Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia). See table below The absence of some countries and the participation of many small teams was often due to financial reasons. Former British colonies mostly set their priorities on the Commonwealth Games and didn't have enough funds to send athletes to Tunis. Considering the level of performance in the country, South Africa came with a small team, composed only with potential medalists. Ethiopia lost nine sprinters (among whom Ageritu Belete, Zufan Tadesse, Assegedetch Tesfaye, Mesfin Negussie, Shiferaw Shibiru, Defaru Asfaw, Negussie Getchamo and Kassu Chekwala) who refused to embark on the flight to Tunis during the connexion in Francfort. Sierra Leone was meant to have a team but the athletes deserted during the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Countries Participants Hommes Femmes Algeria 45 24 21 Angola 4 3 1 Benin 7 5 2 Botswana 9 5 4 Burkina Faso 5 2 3 Burundi 5 3 2 Cameroon 8 2 6 Cape Verde 1 1 Central African Republic Chad 4 2 2 Comoros 1 1 Congo 1 1 Democratic Congo Djibouti 3 3 Egypt 14 8 6 Eritrea 13 9 4 Ethiopie 14 9 5 Gabon 5 3 2 Gambia Ghana 9 4 5 Guinea 2 1 1 Guinea Bissau Equatorial Guinea 1 1 Ivory Coast 11 6 5 Kenya 22 16 6 Lesotho Liberia 7 5 2 Libya 16 14 2 Madagascar 4 2 2 Malawi Mali 4 1 3 Mauritania 2 2 Mauritius 16 11 5 Morocco 38 25 13 Mozambique 1 1 Namibia 9 5 4 Niger Nigeria 15 4 11 Rwanda 4 3 1 Sao Tome 1 1 Senegal 22 11 11 Seychelles 2 2 Sierra Leone Somalia 4 4 Sudan 1 1 South Africa 14 7 7 Swaziland Tanzania Togo 3 1 2 Tunisia 54 25 29 Uganda 2 1 1 Zambia Zimbabwe 2 1 1 Total 405 233 172