Paris 2024 Olympics: Supercomputer picks Ethiopia to finish as Africa’s best nation

Ethiopia will top the Olympic medal table for Africa, a supercomputer has predicted, with USA, China and Great Britain pegged to occupy the top three.

The Ethiopians are projected to finish 17th on the final medal table with a total of 17 medals made up of five gold, six silver and six bronze medals.

All their medals are projected to come from track and field with the likes of Lamecha Girma (men’s 3000m steeplechase), Hagos Gebrhiwet (men’s 5000m), Ejgayehu Taye (women’s 5000m), Gudaf Tsegay (women’s 10000m) and Tigst Assefa (women’s marathon) tipped by Sports Illustrated to win gold medals for the east African country.

The Ethiopians will be returning to the summit as the best African nation 20 years after they last did in Athens, Greece and supplant Kenya have been Africa’s best in the last two Olympics.

Nigeria finished joint seventh in 2020 with Namibia amongst the top 10 African nations in 2020 with Blessing Oborodudu’s silver medal in Wrestling and Ese Brume’s bronze in track and field.
The country was ranked Africa’s number two behind South Africa in 1996, the year Nigeria recorded her best medal haul of six medals made up of two gold, one silver and three bronze.

Meanwhile, the Americans have been projected to win for the fourth straight games with 121 medals, including 39 golds, 47 silver and 35 bronze.

The data comes from OLBG, which has also earmarked China for success to the tune of 77 medals, including 32 golds and Great Britain with 62 medals including 26 gold medals.