Several athletes competing for the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the Paris Olympics have reportedly gone missing, officials in France have said.
The absence of three of the six Congolese competitors at the Olympic Games closing ceremony in Paris prompted high-level concern, with authorities in the country eventually deciding to open an investigation to find them.
DRC sports minister Didier Budimbu, who had travelled from the capital Kinshasa to participate in the closing ceremony, was reportedly concerned about the disappearance of his athletes.
One of the three, judoka Daso Kisoka, resurfaced on August 12. He, alongside swimmer Aristotle Impelenga and sprinter Dominique Lasconi Mulamba, had skipped the ceremony on August 11.
The fighter, who became the first Congolese to carry an Olympic flame at the official ceremonies of the International Olympic Committee, denied he had been attempting to stay in France.
“Forget what you think. I’m only 23 years old, and I have a long way to go… I can’t drag my family and friends through the mud,” he told Africanews on August 12.
“I spent a peaceful night here in the Olympic Village and I feel like a fish in water.”
???? FLASH | Trois athlètes olympiques congolais se sont évaporés dans la nature quelques heures avant la cérémonie de clôture des JO de Paris. (@Mwaalingama ) pic.twitter.com/kWuw8jzMgo
— Cerfia (@CerfiaFR) August 13, 2024
Despite participating 12 times in the Olympic Games, the DRC has never won a medal.
This year’s event was no different. The six athletes did not medal in the four sports they participated in: judo, swimming, athletics, and boxing.
Ahead of the Paris Olympics, Impelenga had told Congolese media on July 31 that he would do his utmost to represent his nation.
Initially, the swimmer got the best result his country had enjoyed, finishing third in the men’s 100m preliminaries. In the end, he was eliminated in the first round, finishing seventh overall.
Regarding Mulamba, the International Testing Agency (ITA) reported the athlete had tested positive in a sample taken on August 4 for stanozolol, an anabolic steroid, resulting in his provisional suspension from all competition.
On August 13, the delegation of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), landed back in Kinshasa with three of its six Olympic athletes.
Rigaud Mulopo, the communications officer of the Congolese Olympic Committee, said on August 13 that boxer Marcelat Sakobi Matshu had opted to stay in Paris to negotiate a professional contract. He further claimed that Mulamba had headed to Dakar, the capital of Senegal, where he had been staying since 2021 at an athletics training centre.
Mulopo also said Impelenga had remained in France to register at an unnamed training centre.
There have been previous instances of African athletes “disappearing” after international tournaments.
During the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia, a significant number of athletes from countries including Cameroon, Rwanda, and Uganda went “missing“, with many reportedly then applying for asylum.
NGO Surfrider Foundation France has accused the Paris Olympics committee of hiding poor Seine quality figures. https://t.co/rmBEgMEqqI
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) August 9, 2024
