Four Olympic team members of the Democratic Republic of Congo have been reported missing at the end of the Olympic 2012 Games in London. The four missing Congolese team members includes a judo player and three other members of its Olympic delegation.
The team members were discovered to be missing from the London Olympic village since the weekend. They have been identified to be Cedric Mandembo from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Cedric lost his only judo match in 49 seconds to Russian Alexander Mikhaylin in the 100kg category. Cedric was reported to have disappeared together with his coach, Ibula Masengo.
Also among them is Blaise Bekwa, Congo’s boxing trainer as well as Guy Nkita, the national technical director of athletics. All four missing persons were reported to have left the Olympic village with their luggages.
About two weeks ago, some seven athletes from Cameroon were also reported to have disappeared from the Olympic village. Amongst them were five boxers, a swimmer and a footballer. It was suggested that they were going to seek asylum to enable them remain in the country for economic reasons.
According to Henri Tchounga, a tour guide in Yaounde,
The conditions in Cameroon are very difficult – there are no opportunities here and if you have the chance to go the UK, it’s understandable that you would want to stay there. But my fear is that now Cameroonians will have a bad reputation and in future we will not be able to get visas. It’s good for them but a serious problem for the rest of us.
The seven missing Atheletes from Cameroon were identified as Drusille Ngako, Paul Ekane Edingue, Thomas Essomba, Serge Ambomo, Blaise Yepmou Mendouo, Abdon Mewoli and Christian Donfack Adjoufack.
