Africa has made its mark on the Olympic football tournament recently with double gold in Atlanta and Sydney and a bronze in Barcelona in 1992. But the continent's association with football at the Olympic Games stretches back more than 80 years to the seventh Olympiad on Antwerp in 1920 when Egypt were included among the participants.

The representatives from the land of the Pharaohs only played a single game, beaten 2-1 by Italy in Ghent on August 28, 1920.

The tournament in those days was a straight knockout affair and after just one match the Egyptians were on their way home, but their participation marked the first from Africa in a recognised international competition.

Africa, Hegazi edge out South America early doors

Africa, in fact, beat South America to the punch in terms of Olympic participation because it was only at the Olympiad in Paris in 1924 that Uruguay became the first South Americans to travel to Europe and participate in the event.

Egypt were also back at the Olympic Games in 1924 when they beat Hungary 3-0 - the first record of an African triumph over European opposition - before losing to Sweden.

Hussein Hegazi coached the side and was also one of the goal scorers in the game against the Magyars. He was already past his prime but in 1911 had played in the English league for Fulham while studying in London.

He was to continue playing to the age of 40 and is one of the early legends of the African game.
In Amsterdam in 1928, Egypt beat former colonial masters Turkey 7-1 with a hat-trick from Mokhtar El Tetch, another icon of Egyptian football They also beat Portugal but were then hammered 6-0 by Argentina in the semi-final before losing 11-3 to Italy in the bronze-medal match.

New African lights on the horizon

Egypt went on to play in another four more Olympic football tournaments before another African country joined the exclusive party - Tunisia in 1960.

The Men from the Maghreb lost all three of their matches, dropping results to Poland, Argentina and Denmark.

By 1964, and the games of the 16th Olympiad in Tokyo, proper qualifying competitions in the continental zones had been extended in Africa and Egypt, Ghana and Morocco all qualified to send their teams to the Games.

Ghana finished top of their first round group but lost to Egypt 5-1 in the quarter-finals. Egypt again made it to the bronze-medal match after losing to Hungary in the semi-finals, where they were beaten by East Germany.

Africa continued to have a healthy representation at the Olympics, but never came close to medal contention again until Barcelona in 1992.

In 1976 in Montreal African countries all boycotted the games in protest at the participation of New Zealand, whose rugby team had had contact with apartheid South Africa in defiance of the international sporting boycott.

In 1988 though, Zambia scored a famous 4-0 win over Italy in Seoul with three goals from current-day coach Kalusha Bwalya before faltering in the quarter-finals.

The win was a major morale-booster for African football, at the time desperately seeking a breakthrough onto the international scene.

The day after the win, Italy's Gazetta dello Sport famously published a map of Zambia to show their perplexed readers where these 'upstart' Africans came from!

Bwalya's performances saw him crowned African Footballer of the Year for 1988.

Finally 'on the map,' Africa finds her pot of Gold

It was in Barcelona though, just over a decade ago, that Africa finally made their real breakthrough with Ghana's Black Meteors winning a bronze.

It was the first Olympics where Africa did not send full national teams but played instead with an under-23 side. The young Ghanaians included Samuel Osei Kuffour, later to find fame and fortune with Bayern Munich, and the only goal of the third-place playoff game against Australia was scored by Isaac Asare, a fullback from Belgium's Anderlecht.

In Atlanta four years later, Nigeria's team thrilled with their dramatic run to the final. The tournament was supposed to be the long-awaited breakthrough for Mario Zagallo's Brazilians, who were seeking their first-ever Olympic football gold medal and were hot favourites for the title.

The semifinal, ironically in Athens, Georgia, saw Brazil 3-1 up with just 12 minutes left before Victor Ikpeba reduced the lead. Then on the stroke of full-time, Nwankwo Kanu scored and then added one more in a dramatic reversal as Nigeria ran out 4-3 winners.

A crowd of 86,117 watched the gold medal match at the same stadium where Nigeria beat a star-studded Argentina 3-2, again coming from behind and scoring a last-gasp winner through Emmanuel Amunike.

Nigeria had camped in a scruffy boarding house in the small town but overcame the poor conditions to become the toast of African football.

It was just as dramatic in Sydney where Cameroon needed a penalty shootout to overcome Spain in the gold medal match.

But the real drama had come earlier in the tournament at the quarter-final stage where the young Lions, down to nine men with two players sent off, beat Brazil in Brisbane thanks to a golden goal from Modeste Mbami.

It was a defining moment for the Africans, overcoming an overzealous German referee and a quality Brazilian side, to set up a successful march on the gold medal.

Of the Africans countries with a rich Olympic tradition, only Ghana are back for the 2004 Games in Athens. But they, along with Mali, Morocco and Tunisia, will certainly draw inspiration from the achievements of their African compatriots in the past.