Bolivia at the 2008 Summer Olympics
| Bolivia at the 2008 Summer Olympics |
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| IOC code | BOL | ||||||||
| NOC | Bolivian Olympic Committee | ||||||||
| Website |
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| in Beijing | |||||||||
| Competitors | 7 in 5 sports | ||||||||
| Flag bearer | César Menacho | ||||||||
| Medals |
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| Summer Olympics appearances (overview) | |||||||||
Bolivia sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, China. The South American country's delegation was the fifteenth Summer Olympic team and seventeenth overall Olympic team overall sent by the country. Bolivia's National Olympic Committee sent seven athletes–three women and four men–across five sports and seven distinct events. A substantial number of the athletes originated in southern Bolivian cities, most notably Santa Cruz de la Sierra. All athletes except for cyclist Horacio Gallardo finished their events, although no medals were won by the country at these Games (or at any Games up to this point, summer or winter). Trap shooter César Menacho was the Bolivian flag bearer at the ceremonies.
Bolivia is a landlocked, predominantly mountainous nation in central South America that is inhabited mainly by Amerindian peoples. The nation of 10 million people lies to the southwest of Brazil, to the northwest of Paraguay, to the north of Argentina and of Chile, and to the east of Peru. Bolivia was originally colonized by the Spanish, and broke away from the Spanish Empire in 1825. The nation endured a period of instability that consisted of nearly 200 coups between then and 1982, when a popularly elected democratic government came into power. The first Bolivian delegation to the Olympics appeared 46 years before the arrival of democracy in Bolivia, when two men competed at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Nazi Germany. However, Bolivian athletes did not return to the Olympics afterwards until the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. The size of the Bolivian delegation has increased steadily since that time, and has peaked several times—most notably at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, when 13 athletes arrived to represent their country across six sports. The first female Bolivian Olympian competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, USA. Bolivian athletes competed at fifteen Summer Olympic games (and seventeen Olympic games of any kind) by the end of the Beijing games, missing the 1948–1960 and 1980 games.
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