The Maldives competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics, which were held in Beijing, China from August 8 to August 24, 2008. The country's participation at the Beijing Olympics marked its seventh appearance in the Summer Olympics since its debut at the 1988 Summer Olympics. The delegation included four athletes, two in athletics (Ali Shareef and Aishath Reesha), and two in swimming (Ibrahim Shameel and Aminath Rouya Hussain) who participated in four distinct events. Its four athletes did not advance past the first round in each of their events. Aminath Rouya Hussain carried the Maldivian flag during the parade of nations of the opening ceremony with sprinter Ali Shareef being the flagbearer for the closing ceremony. The country failed to win an Olympic medal at these Games and has yet to win their first medal.
The Maldives was represented by a male athlete and a female athlete in athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics, Ali Shareef and Aishath Reesha. At the age of 29, Ali Shareef was the country's oldest competitor, and was competing at his first Olympics. He competed on 15 August in Beijing, and finished 7th out of 8 in heat six. His time of 11.11 seconds placed him 69th out of 80 competitors overall. The fastest athlete was Tyrone Edgar finishing with a time of 10.13 seconds and the slowest athlete that progressed to the semi-finals was Uchenna Emedolu who finished with a time of 10.46 seconds. Shareef, who was 0.65 seconds behind Emedolu, did not progress to the semi-finals.[8]
Competing at her first Olympics, Aishath Reesha was the only female competing in the track and field events at the 2008 Summer Olympics for Maldives.[9] She competed in the 800 metres on 15 August. Reesha was drawn into heat five for the event.[10] She ran a personal best time of 2 minutes and 30.14 seconds.[11] She finished seventh and last in her heat, almost 30 seconds behind the winner, Zulia Calatayud. She finished last out of 39 athletes overall. Reesha was 31.23 seconds behind the fastest athlete Maria Mutola and 26.29 seconds behind the slowest athlete who progressed to the semi-finals, Élodie Guégan. Therefore, Reesha did not progress to the semi-finals.[12]
Key
Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only
Q = Qualified for the next round
q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or, in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target
Swimmer Ibrahim Shameel was the youngest athlete to participate in the Maldivian delegation at Beijing; he was sixteen years old at the time of his performance, and the only male swimmer in the delegation.[13] Shameel has not previously appeared at any Olympic games.[14] The preliminary round for the men's 50 meters freestyle, the event in which he participated, took place on August 15. Shameel was placed in the third heat. He completed his event in 29.28 seconds, taking seventh in the heat. Out of the 97 athletes who participated in the preliminary round, Shameel ranked 88th. He did not advance to later rounds.[15]
Then 17-year-old Aminath Rouya Hussain participated on Maldives's behalf in the women's 50 meters freestyle. Her participation in Beijing marked her second Olympic appearance, as she had participated previously in women's 50 meters freestyle at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.[16] She was the only female Maldivian swimmer participating in the Beijing games. During the August 15 preliminary round, Rouya participated in the fourth heat. She completed her event in 30.21 seconds, ranking seventh out of the eight athletes in the heat. Overall, Rouya ranked 72 out of the 90 athletes who participated in the event.[a] She did not advance to later rounds.[17]
