2007 All-Africa Games in Algiers
Every four years one of the largest sporting events in Africa takes place under the direction of the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (“ANOCA”). This event is known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan-African Games and this year’s event will take place in Algeria’s capital city, Algiers.
The All-Africa Games was the brainchild of Pierre de Coubertin who was instrumental in renovating the modern Olympic Games. However, his concept of an all-African sporting event was ahead of its time in a colonially controlled Africa and the idea only began to materialize some four decades later.
The first All-Africa Games was held in 1965 in Brazzaville in the Congo and event organizers have never looked back, despite the fact that the second edition of the games was disrupted by a military coup. In the beginning, it was only really the three most advanced African countries that captured the spotlight – namely South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt. However the early domination of the Games by a few countries has started changing and a number of other African countries have begun taking home gold and silver medals.
In order for a country to compete it must be from the African continent. Because many of the competing countries have suffered economic and governmental set backs, the Pan-African Games give competing countries a chance to show case their sports talent under common rules and international judging standards.
This year’s All-Africa Games will be taking place in Algiers between the 11th and 23rd of July. This is second time that Algeria has hosted the Games and been granted this great privilege. The ninth edition of the Games will be hosting twenty different sporting events including athletics, badminton, basketball, chess, football, gymnastics, hockey, karate, swimming, taekwando, volleyball, wrestling and weightlifting. Baseball, softball and field hockey events have been eliminated from the event line-up due to lack of facilities in the hosting city.
If you are planning a trip to Algeria soon, make sure that you visit during the All-Africa Games so that you can enjoy one of most exciting sporting events on the African continent.
