Cameroon athletes missing

YAOUNDE – Seven athletes from Cameroon have disappeared from the Olympic Village in London, some of who were participating in the London 2012 Olympics, Cameroon media reported Tuesday, August 7, citing an official.

The seven missing athletes was reported on the website of the state daily Cameroon Tribune.

According to the head of Cameroon‘s Olympics delegation, David Ojong, “28 (delegation members) returned to Cameroon, 24 are still in the (Olympic) village and seven have defected,” the newspaper reported him telling the country’s sports minister at a meeting on Sunday.

On Tuesday the sports ministry declined to comment on the situation and no explanation was given for the defections.

The missing athletes are five boxers, one swimmer and one woman football (soccer) player, the Cameroon Tribune said.

Meanwhile a representative of the Cameroon Football Federation said the first athlete to disappear on July 2 was “a woman football player who was at the Olympic village but was not one of the 18 players chosen to take part in the Olympic games.”

The missing player from Cameroon‘s national football team is Drusille Ngako, said the representative, who requested anonymity.

She was not chosen as a finalist to participate in the games and it is not known why she went with the national women’s football team to London, the source added.

This is not the first time Cameroonian athletes have disappeared in international competition. In the past, players from Cameroon have quit their delegation without permission.

It is widely assumed that the missing athletes disappear, in search for better living conditions, given the troublesome economic climate in Cameroon. So far, they have not broken any immigration rules however, as athletes and their families are permitted to stay in London until November.

Since the beginning of the 2012 Games in London, Cameroon has not won any medals. Two of its athletes remain in competition. – with Agence-France Presse