Nepal at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Nepal competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, which was held from 27 July to 12 August 2012. The country's participation at London marked its twelfth appearance in the Summer Olympics since its début at the 1964 Summer Olympics. The delegation included two track and field athletes; Tilak Ram Tharu and Pramila Rijal, one shooter Sneh Rana and two swimmers; Prasiddha Jung Shah and Shreya Dhital; all five competitors qualified for the Games through wildcard places from their respective sporting governing bodies. It was the smallest delegation sent by Nepal since the 1992 Summer Olympics. Shah was selected as the flag bearer for the opening and closing ceremonies. Four of the five athletes were unable to progress beyond the first stages of their respective events while Rana finished 54th in the women's 10 metre air rifle shooting competition.

Nepal at the
2012 Summer Olympics
IOC codeNEP
NOCNepal Olympic Committee
Websitewww.nocnepal.org.np
in London
Competitors5 in 3 sports
Flag bearer Prasiddha Jung Shah
Medals
Gold
0
Silver
0
Bronze
0
Total
0
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)

Background

Nepal participated in twelve Olympic Games between its début at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England, with the exception of 1968.[1] No Nepalese athlete has ever won a medal at the Summer Olympics and the country has entered four Winter Olympic Games.[1] Nepal participated in the Summer Olympics from 27 July to 12 August 2012.[2] The Nepalese delegation to these Olympics consisted of athletes Tilak Ram Tharu and Pramila Rijal, shooter Sneh Rana and swimmers Prasiddha Jung Shah and Shreya Dhital.[1][3] It was the nation's smallest delegation since the 1992 Summer Olympics.[1] Jung Shah was the flag bearer for both the opening and closing ceremonies.[4][5]

Along with the five athletes, the country's delegation by its chef de mission Ganga Bahadur Thapa, secretary general Jeevan Ram Shrestha, the NOC president Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan, and the competitors were coached by Tika Sedain (athletics) and Ongden Iama (swimming).[6] Yuva Raj Lama, the National Sports Council member secretary, withdrew from the delegation because of a disagreement over the selection of athletes and accused the NOC of being unable to maintain transparency over funds to the International Olympic Committee.[7] The team trained in the English county of Kent in a deal announced in July 2011,[8] and were primarily based at Canterbury Christ Church University and The Canterbury Academy.[9]

Athletics
Main article: Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics

Tilak Ram Tharu was the sole male competitor in athletics to represent Nepal at the London Olympic Games. He had not participated in any previous Olympic Games.[2] Tharu qualified for the Games by using a wildcard because his fastest time of eleven seconds at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics was 0.76 seconds slower than the "B" qualifying standard for the men's 100 metres.[10][11] He said that he did not expect to get the chance to take part in the Olympic Games and set himself the objective of recording a new Nepalese national record.[12] Tharu spent two months training in Nepal alongside his period in Kent. He was drawn in the fourth heat in the preliminary round on 4 August, finishing fifth out of eight athletes, with a time of 10.85 seconds.[13] Overall Tharu finished 59th out of 75 competitors overall,[14] and did not advance to the later stages because he was 0.23 seconds slower than the slowest athlete in his heat who progressed to the first round.[13] He was unable to obtain the Nepalese national record but stated his faster time was a positive although he felt Nepal required better training facilities.[15]

The London Olympic Stadium, where Tharu and Rijal competed in track and field events.

Competing at her first Summer Olympic Games, Pramila Rijal was the oldest person to compete for Nepal at the London Olympics at age 27.[2] She attained qualification to the Games with the use of a wildcard because she had not set any previous time for the women's 100 metres.[10][16] Rijal revealed that she had problems with the starting block but hoped the training in Kent would aid her in setting a new Nepalese national record.[12] She took part in the fourth heat on 3 August, finishing sixth out of nine competitors, with a time of 13.33 seconds.[17] The result was attributed to Rajal having back pain in the days before the event and required painkillers to help her cope.[18] She finished 71st out of 78 runners overall,[n 1] and was eliminated from the event since only the first three finshers of each heat and the following ten quickest qualified for the next round.[17]

Men
Athlete Event Heat Quarterfinal Semifinal Final
Result Rank Result Rank Result Rank Result Rank
Tilak Ram Tharu 100 m 10.85 5 Did not advance[14]
Women
Athlete Event Heat Quarterfinal Semifinal Final
Result Rank Result Rank Result Rank Result Rank
Pramila Rijal 100 m 13.33 6 Did not advance[17]
Key
  • Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only

Shooting
Main article: Shooting at the 2012 Summer Olympics
The Royal Artillery Barracks, where Rana took part in the women's 10 metre air rifle competition.

Sneh Rana was her nation's sole representative in shooting at the London Games. She was 19 years old at the time and was making her début in the quadrennial event.[2] Rana qualified for the women's 10 metres air rifle shooting competition after receiving a wildcard from shooting's Olympic governing body, the International Shooting Sport Federation, because of a re-allocation of unused quota places.[19] On 28 July she competed in the qualification round of her event. Rana finished 54th out of 56 athletes with a score of 54 points.[20] Rana scored 16 points less than the two equal highest scoring competitors, Sylwia Bogacka of Poland and Yi Siling from China. She scored 14 points less than the four lowest scoring qualifiers for the final and therefore her competition ended at the qualifying round.[20] After the Games Rana said the event was "great exposure" for herself and that it was "an amazing experience".[21]

Women
Athlete Event Qualification Final
Points Rank Points Rank
Sneh Rana 10 m air rifle 383 54 Did not advance[20]

Swimming
Main article: Swimming at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Shreya Dhital took part in the women's 100 metre freestyle where she was eliminated in the heat stages.

Making his second appearance at the Summer Olympics at the age of 23,[2] Jung Shah was notable for carrying the flag of Nepal at the opening and closing ceremonies.[4][5] He qualified for the Games by receiving a universality place from swimming's world governing body FINA because his fastest time of 27.30 seconds, set at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships, was 4.57 seconds slower than the "B" qualifying standard for the men's 50 metres freestyle.[22][23][24] Shah sustained a minor shoulder injury heading during his training sessions going into the event but recovered and stated that he wanted to attempt to improve on his personal best time.[24] He participated in the event's third heat on 2 August, finishing seventh out of eight swimmers, with a time of 26.93 seconds.[25] Shah finished 47th out of 58 competitors overall, and did not advance into the semi-final because he was 4.66 seconds behind the slowest swimmer who made the later stages.[25] Despite setting a new personal best time Shah said he was disappointed with his performance.[26]

Competing in her first Olympic Games, Shreya Dhital was the youngest person to represent Nepal in the quadrennial event at the age of 17.[2] She attained qualification into the Games by gaining a universality place from FINA because her fastest time of 1 minute, 10.82 seconds was 14.28 seconds slower than the "B" qualifying standard for the women's 100 metre freestyle.[22][23] In an interview with The Kathmandu Post before the Games Dhital said that she was confident about achieving a new national Nepalese swimming record.[3] She was drawn in the event's first heat on 1 August, finishing second out of three competitors, with a time of one minute, 10.80 seconds.[27] The swimmer's time was a new national Nepalese record.[28] Dhital finished 47th out of 48 swimmers overall,[n 2] and was unable to progress to the semi-finals after placing 16.37 seconds slower than the slowest athlete who advanced to the later stages.[27] Following the heat's completing Dhital said that the achievement would help her improve her performance in the future.[28]

Men
Athlete Event Heat Semifinal Final
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Prasiddha Jung Shah 50 m freestyle 26.93 47 Did not advance[25]
Women
Athlete Event Heat Semifinal Final
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Shreya Dhital 100 m freestyle 1:10.80 47 Did not advance[27][28]
gollark: So blue.
gollark: I've said it before and I'll say it again: the gusty eggs look stupidly good.
gollark: 9h egg in AP?!
gollark: I think the increased egg turnover means you can get more cool codes.
gollark: I have a `doit` gusty, which is cool.

See also

Notes
  1. One athlete, Noor Hussain Al-Malki, was unable to finish, and another, Semoy Hackett, was disqualified.[17]
  2. Two swimmers, Cate Campbell and Therese Alshammar, did not start.[27]

References
  1. "Countries – Nepal". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  2. "Nepal at the 2012 London Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 11 March 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  3. "Nepali Athletes Vie for National Record, Personal Best in London". The Kathmandu Post. 28 July 2012. Archived from the original on 17 November 2018. Retrieved 10 November 2016 – via HighBeam Research.
  4. Staff (20 July 2012). "Shah to carry Nepal's flag at the London Olympics". The Himalayan Times. Archived from the original on 20 December 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
  5. "London 2012 Closing Ceremony – Flag Bearers" (PDF). Olympic.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 August 2016. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  6. "London Olympics Update: Nepal". Chinese Olympic Committee. 23 July 2012. Archived from the original on 16 August 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  7. Dangi, Krishna (20 July 2012). "A cold send-off for Sneha". The Kathmandu Post. Archived from the original on 10 November 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  8. "London 2012 Olympics: Kent set for training camps". BBC News. 27 July 2011. Archived from the original on 10 August 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  9. MacKay, Duncan (22 August 2011). "Nepal to train in Kent before London 2012". Inside the Games. Archived from the original on 10 November 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  10. "London 2012 Olympics: Athletics qualification". The Daily Telegraph. 15 April 2011. Archived from the original on 2 October 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  11. "Tilak Ram Tharu – Athlete Profile – Progression". IAAF. Archived from the original on 10 November 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  12. "Sprinters aim for new national records". My República. 24 July 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2016 – via GeneralOne File.
  13. "Olympics – Men's athletics 100m heats – results". Reuters. 4 August 2012. Archived from the original on 10 November 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  14. "2012 Summer Olympics – Results – Athletics – Men's 100m". ESPN. Archived from the original on 21 October 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  15. "Tharu crashes out in 100 m heat". My República. 4 August 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2016 – via General OneFile.
  16. "Pramila Rijal – Athlete Profile – Progression". IAAF. Archived from the original on 10 November 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  17. "100 metres, Women". Olympedia. Archived from the original on 8 June 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  18. "Pramila fails to make mark at London Olympics". Kathmandu Post. 3 August 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2016 – via General OneFile.
  19. "Quota Places by Nation and Number". International Shooting Sport Federation. 8 July 2012. Archived from the original on 24 July 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  20. "Shooting at the 2012 London Summer Games: Women's Air Rifle, 10 metres Qualification". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
  21. "Nepali team arrives home with 'routine' Olympics participation". The Himalayan Times. 14 August 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2016 – via General OneFile.
  22. "FINA Universality Places" (PDF). FINA. 6 July 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  23. Keith, Branden (25 November 2010). "FINA Announces Qualifying Standards for London 2012". Swim Swam. Archived from the original on 20 October 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
  24. "Swimmer Shah competes today". My República. 2 August 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2016 – via General OneFile.
  25. "2012 Summer Olympics Results – Swimming – Results for Men's 50m Freestyle". ESPN. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  26. Pokhrel, Nabin (2 August 2012). "Ordinary performance from Shah". Kathmandu Post. Archived from the original on 10 November 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  27. "Swimming / Womenʼs 100m Freestyle". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  28. Pokhrel, Nabin (1 August 2012). "Dhital sets new national record". The Kathmandu Post. Archived from the original on 10 November 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
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