Two hundred and four National Olympic Committees (NOCs) took part in the Beijing Olympic Games - a record! Some 87 of them celebrated their medal-winning athletes. For some NOCs, it was the first time that one of their representatives had won a medal or was crowned Olympic champion: Tajikistan won its first medals thanks to Rasul Boqiev in the judo and Yusup Abdusalomov in the wrestling; Afghanistan stepped up on to the podium thanks to Rohullah Nikpai in taekwondo; Badar-Uugan Enkhbat in boxing and Tuvshinbayar Naidan in judo were the first athletes from Mongolia to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games; just like Bahrain with Rachid Ramzy in athletics. For the African continent, Bruno Julie in boxing and Benjamin Boukpeti in canoe/kayak offered Mauritius and Togo respectively their first Olympic medals, while Panama took its first gold medal in athletics.
