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Nations snub Youth Olympics

August 16, 2014

Amid Ebola restrictions, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone are sitting out the Youth Olympics in the Chinese city of Nanjing. Guinea still has two athletes competing.

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Youth Olympics
Image: Reuters

On Saturday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Chinese President Xi Jinping and International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach watched a 90-minute program showcasing culture to the theme "China Dream" at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre featuring thousands of performers. Not present, however, were three West African countries that withdrew Friday in response to the IOC's and local organizers' prohibiting athletes from Ebola-affected regions from participating in certain events, claiming a risk of infection.

On Friday, news agencies had quoted unnamed members of the Nigerian delegation as complaining that officials had "quarantined" athletes from the team, not permitted them to train alongside other competitors, and subjected them to discriminatory special health checkups.

"We feel sad for the athletes as it will be extremely difficult for them," Bach said of the Nigerians, China's state news agency Xinhua reported. "They already felt the excitement of living in the Village and now they have to leave. That's a very difficult task."

The IOC had announced its bans on Friday, citing "health authority guidelines" for combat sports and, for aquatic events, "based on the inability to completely exclude the risk of potential infection," according to a statement. Under that ruling, the 16-year-old female judo athlete Mamadama Bangoura and 16-year-old male swimmer Alhoussene Sylla, both from Guinea, will miss the games, along with 16-year-old female Nigerian wrestler Bose Samuel.

Organizers had prepared to conduct regular health checks on athletes from Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone to prevent the potential spread of the virus, which has killed more than 1,000 people in its current outbreak. The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has also forced organizers to move qualifiers for football's African Cup of Nations out of Guinea and Sierra Leone.

An estimated 3,600 athletes aged 15 to 18 will compete in 28 sports over 12 days, many hoping to warm up for the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro - the Olympics for grownups.

mkg/shs (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)