Boycott 'Genocide Games'? Sudan's Olympic athletes say no.

Arab and Darfuri teammates want the event to showcase their talent, not their country's problems.

from the April 23, 2008 edition

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Abubaker Kaki Khamis belongs to the Misseriya tribe, whose mounted Arab militias wrought havoc in southern Sudan where they fought for the government during a long and bitter civil war. They were the model for the janjaweed militia in Darfur that has raped and killed thousands of Ismail's tribemates.

Mr. Khamis is Sudan's best hope of a medal. Last month he was crowned world indoor 800-meter champion – the youngest ever – and since then has been feted by Sudan's President Omar el Bashir, had songs written for him, and been given parcels of land around Khartoum.

Like many young athletes he dreams of earning enough money to buy his parents a house. "Everything else is on hold now as I go for an Olympic win, but I need to help my family," he says, at the simple village of prefab huts where the athletes live.

Abubaker may be pinning his hopes on gold, but he has to cope with the same basic training conditions as everyone else.

Sudan's Olympic hopefuls use old paint cans filled with concrete for weight training. Their athletics stadium has never been finished. Piles of rubble surround the track. Because there are no floodlights, all training comes to a halt when the sun disappears in the evening.

While neighbors such as Ethiopia and Kenya dominate distance events, Sudan has little in the way of a tradition in track and field. The country has not so much as an Olympic medal to its name.

Still, Jama Aden, who coached Abdi Bile to a world title in 1987, has spent the past six years trawling the country for talent. Though five members of his young team have picked up sponsorships with Nike, the rest survive on hand-me-downs., making a donation from the British Embassy in Khartoum the only way Mr. Aden can afford to get his team to Beijing.

"The facilities we have are poor compared to what there is in the West, but the athletes make up for it by being keen and willing to work extra hard," he says. "So what makes me upset when the Western world says we should have a boycott [is that] people don't realize that Darfur benefits from all this."

By the time he has finalized his 12-strong team for Beijing, he thinks half will be from Darfur, including members of the Zaghawa and Fur tribes, which support the region's rebel movements.

So while activists use the Olympics to pressure China on Sudan, the athletes see the Games as a chance to improve their country's reputation abroad. "People only think of bad things when they think of Sudan," says Nawal El Jack, a 400-meter runner, echoing her teammates' views. "Beijing is our chance to show people that we can do good things too."

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