Gallery: The One and Only: Olympians Who Won Their Country's Sole Medal
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3\. Obadele Thompson, Barbados, 100 Meters, 2000. Bronze medal. In 1960, Barbadian quarter-miler Jim Wedderburn had won a bronze medal as a member of the relay team of the British West Indies. *Photo: Doug Mills/AP. Thompson, on the right, crossing the finish line with Maurice Greene of the U.S. and Jonathan Drummond.*
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The Games are drawing to a close, and what an Olympiad it was. The highlights reel of these Games is one for the ages. The American women’s gymnastics squad brought home the first gold medal since The Magnificent Seven of 1996. Usain Bolt silenced his doubters when he proved, again, that he is the fastest man in the world. The British dominated track cycling, taking seven of 10 gold medals. David Rushida's record-setting run in the 800 meters was one of the best track performances ever. Sixteen-year-old Ye Shiwen, Oscar Pistorius, Missy Franklin… the list of amazing, inspiring and historic moments is long indeed. [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/playbook/?attachment_id=15995) But the go-to metric for so many pundits as the Games wrap up is invariably the [medal count for each country](http://www.medalcount.com/). When we last checked, the United States led with 104 total medals, followed closely by China at 87 and Russia at 82. (If you want to look only at gold medals, the order is USA with 46, China with 38 and Britain with 29.) The vast majority of the 10,000-plus athletes will go home with nothing more than memories, and more than half of the 204 countries represented at the Games did not earn a medal. Montenegro joins the list of countries with but a single medal after a silver-medal finish to Norway in the women's handball final on Saturday night. Here, straight from *[The Book of Olympic Lists: A Treasure-Trove of 116 Years of Olympic Trivia](http://amzn.to/MGZfs8)* (Aurum Press, $14.95) by David Wallechinsky and Jaime Loucky, are 20 athletes who won their country’s only Olympic medal. We've included those photos we could track down. __UPDATED__ 12:15 p.m. Eastern Monday, Aug. 13 to clarify the medal count. __Above__: 1. Rohullah Nikpai, Afghanistan, Flyweight Taekwondo, 2008. After 21-year-old Rohullah Nikpai won his bronze medal match, he said, “I hope this will send a message of peace to my country after 30 years of war.” *Photo: Musadeq Sadeq/AP* 2\. Jan Boersma, Netherlands Antilles, Windsurfer Sailing, 1988. Silver medal.
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__Above__: 4. Vénuste Niyongabo, Burundi, 5,000 Meters, 1996. Gold medal. Niyongabo (No. 1102) was a medal favorite at 1,500 meters, but withdrew from that race to make way for his friend, Dieudonné Kwizera, who had spearheaded the drive to enter Burundi in the Olympics, but had not qualified for an event himself. Niyongabo entered the 5,000 meters instead, even though he had competed at that distance only twice before. *Photo: Michael Probst/AP* 5\. Clarence Hill, Bermuda, Super-heavyweight Boxing, 1976. Hill’s bronze gave Bermuda the honor of being the least populous nation (53,500) ever to win a medal in the Summer Olympics. 6\. Gabriel Tiacoh, Ivory Coast, 400 Meters, 1984. Silver medal. Tiacoh, who improved his personal best by seven-tenths of a second in the final, died of viral meningitis eight years later, at the age of 28. 7\. Ahmed Salah, Djibouti, Marathon, 1988. Bronze medal.
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__Above__: 8. Zersenay Tadesse Eritrea, 10,000 Meters, 2004. Bronze medal. *Photo: Jeff Haynes/AFP/Getty Images* 9\. Michael Anthony, Guyana, Bantamweight Boxing, 1980. Bronze medal. Guyana’s James Gilkes had been one of the favorites in the 200 meters in 1976, but was prevented from competing when his government boycotted the Montréal Games. 10\. Abdul Wahid Aziz, Iraq, Lightweight Weightlifting, 1960. Bronze medal. 11\. Peter Holmberg, Virgin Islands, Finn Class Sailing, 1988. Silver medal.
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__Above__: 14. Bruno Julie, Mauritius, Bantamweight Boxing, 2008. Bronze medal. *Julie, in red, fights Hoorshid Tojibaev of Uzbekistan at the 2008 Summer Games. Photo: Murad Sezer/AP* 15\. Issaka Daborg, Niger, Light-welterweight Boxing, 1972. Bronze medal.
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__Above__: 16. Amadou Dia Bâ, Senegal, 400-meter Hurdles, 1988. Silver medal. In 1960 Senegalese Abdoulaye Seye had won a bronze medal in the 200 meters while competing for France. *Photo: Ba (No. 898) crosses the line in the 400 meters with Andre Phillips (1120), who set a new Olympic record. Photo: Russell Cheyne/Getty Images*
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__Above__: 17. Ismail Ahmed Ismail, Sudan, 800 Meters, 2008. Silver medal. Ismail and his teammate Abubaker Kaki endured facilities so poor that they used paint cans filled with cement for weight training. A donation from the British embassy helped pay for their trip to Beijing. *Photo: Ahmed, on the left, crosses the line in the 800-meter final behind gold winner Wilfred Bungei. Photo: Petr David Josek/AP*
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__Above__: 18. Paea Wolfgramm, Tonga, Super-heavyweight Boxing, 1996. Silver medal. One of the most unlikely medalists ever, Wolfgramm stunned Cuban favorite Alexis Rubalcaba in the quarter-finals and then qualified for the final with a last-second punch. Back in Tonga, the least populous independent nation ever to win an Olympic medal, King Taufa’ahou Topou IV ordered a national day of fasting and prayer. Later Wolfgramm was asked if he himself ever fasted. He pointed to his 309-pound (140 kg) frame and replied, “Do I look like I’ve fasted a lot?” Wolfgramm was outpointed 7-3 in the final by none other than Wladimir Klitschko. *Photo: IOC*
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__Above__: 20. Sheikh Ahmed Al-Maktoum, United Arab Emirates, Double Trap Shooting, 2004. Gold medal. A member of Dubai’s ruling family, Al-Maktoum did not take up shooting as a sport until the age of 34. *Photo: Douglas C. Pizac/AP*
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__Above__: 19. Benjamin Boukpeti, Togo, Kayak Slalom Singles Canoeing, 2008. Boukpeti was born in France to a French mother and a Togolese father. Ranked 56th in the world, he was so excited after winning his bronze that he snapped his paddle in half in celebration. *Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP*
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__Above__: 12. Fehaid Al-Deehani, Kuwait, Double Trap Shooting, 2000. Bronze medal. *Photo: Toru Yamanaka/AFP/Getty Images* 13\. Magamed Ibragimov, Macedonia, Light-heavyweight Freestyle Wrestling, 2000. Bronze medal. Two Macedonian boxers and two wrestlers had earned medals while representing Yugoslavia.
