Jamaica sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, China from August 8 to August 24, 2008. This was, by far, Jamaica's best showing at the Summer Olympics; it was the nation's largest delegation yet, and its athletes nearly doubled its total gold medal count in addition to breaking the nation's record for number of medals earned in a single games. Jamaica's appearance at Beijing was its fifteenth consecutive appearance and appearance as an independent nation, although it had previously participated in four other games as a British colony and as part of the West Indies Federation. In the 29 events that included Jamaican athletes, there were 26 cases in which a Jamaican athlete or relay progressed to a final round. Usain Bolt won three of Jamaica's six gold medals at Beijing, breaking an Olympic and world record in all three of the events in which he participated. Shelly-Ann Fraser led an unprecedented Jamaican sweep of the medals in the Women's 100 m. Female sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown carried Jamaica's flag at the ceremonies.
Tatiana Chişca is a Moldovan swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. Chisca qualified for the women's 100 m breaststroke at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London by breaking a Moldovan record and eclipsing a FINA B-standard entry time of 1:10.68 from the Ukrainian Championships in Dnipropetrovsk. She challenged seven other swimmers on the second heat, including two-time Olympian Danielle Beaubrun of St. Lucia. Chisca rounded out the field to last place by more than two seconds behind Chinese Taipei's Chen I-Chuan in 1:13.30. Chisca failed to advance into the semifinals, as she placed fortieth overall in the preliminaries.
Choi Hye-Ra is a South Korean swimmer, who specialized in butterfly and individual medley events. She collected four medals in the 200 m butterfly, 200 m individual medley, and the 800 m freestyle relay at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, and at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. She also won a silver medal in the same medley distance at the 2011 Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, China, with a time of 2:14.17. She is a resident athlete of Osan Sports Club in Seoul.
Elizabeth Mary Coster is a New Zealand former swimmer, who specialises in backstroke and butterfly events. She helped the New Zealand team to pull off a fourth-place effort and broke a New Zealand record of 4:06.30 in the medley relay at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia.
Yang Chin-kuei is a Taiwanese swimmer, who specialized in butterfly and freestyle events. She represented the Chinese Taipei national team in two editions of the Olympic Games.
Marcela Valeria Britos is a Uruguayan track and field athlete, who specialized in middle distance running. She represented Uruguay at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and competed in the women's 800 metres. She ran in the third heat of the event, against six other athletes, including Kenya's Pamela Jelimo, who eventually became an Olympic champion in the final. Britos finished the race in last place, with a time of 2:08.98, but was upgraded to sixth position in this heat, when Croatia's Vanja Perišić had been disqualified for failing the doping test.
Mariya Bugakova is an Uzbekistani former swimmer, who specialized in butterfly and sprint freestyle events. She represented Uzbekistan at three editions of the Olympic Games. She is also the elder sister of backstroke swimmer and two-time Olympian Danil Bugakov. Bugakova is a law school graduate at the Tashkent State University of Economics.
Susana Aylen Clement Quezada is a Cuban track and field athlete, who specialized in the 400 metres. She won gold medals for the national relay team at the 2009 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Havana, and also, at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Dedeh Erawati is an Indonesian sprint hurdler. She is a four-time medalist and two-time defending champion at the Southeast Asian Games. She won the bronze medal at the 2009 Asian Athletics Championships in Guangzhou, China, with a time of 13.32 seconds, finishing behind Japan's Asuka Terada and China's Sun Yawei, who claimed the gold in the hurdles. She also set both her personal best and national record of 13.18 seconds at the 2012 Taiwan Open in Taipei, Taiwan.
Precious Oluoma Nwoke Bichiri is a Nigerian track and field athlete, who specialized in the 400 metres. Nwoke competed for the women's 4 × 400 m relay at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, along with her teammates Folashade Abugan, Joy Amechi Eze, and Muizat Ajoke Odumosu. She ran on the third leg of the second heat, with an individual-split time of 51.83 seconds. She and her team finished the relay in fourth place for a seasonal best time of 3:24.10, giving them a qualifying slot for the final round based on performance. By the following day, Nwoke and her team placed seventh in the finals, with another seasonal best time of 3:23.74.
Celma da Graça Soares Bonfim is a Santomean long-distance runner. Da Graça represented São Tomé and Príncipe at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where she carried the nation's flag for her team during the opening ceremony. She ran in the first heat of the women's 5000 metres, against fifteen other athletes, including Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba, who eventually won the gold medal in this event. She finished the race in last place by more than forty seconds behind Malawi's Lucia Chandamale, with her personal best and national record-breaking time of 17:25.99. Da Graça, however, failed to advance into the semi-finals, as she placed thirtieth overall, and was ranked farther below six mandatory slots for the next round. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, da Graça competed in the Women's 1500 metres, but finished 14th, last in her heat, with a time of 4:38.86, failing to advance to the semifinals.
Dimitra Dova is a Greek sprinter, who specialized in the 400 metres. She won the gold medal for her category at the 2005 Mediterranean Games in Almería, Spain, with a time of 52.67 seconds, defeating her compatriot Phara Anacharsis by three hundredths of a second (0.03).
Konstadina Efedaki is a Greek middle-distance runner. She is a two-time national champion (2003–2004) for the 1500 metres.
Josiane da Silva Tito is a Brazilian sprinter and middle-distance runner.
Maria Laura Almirão is a Brazilian sprinter, who specialized in the 400 metres. She is a two-time Olympian and a five-time medalist for the 400 metres and sprint relay at the Ibero-American Championships.
Edit Vári is a Hungarian sprint hurdler. At age thirty-three, Vari made her official debut for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where she competed in the women's 100 m hurdles. She ran in the third heat against seven other athletes, including Australia's Sally McLellan, who later won the silver medal in the final. She finished the heat in last place by three hundredths of a second (0.03) behind Greece's Flora Redoumi, with a slowest possible time of 13.59 seconds. Vari, however, failed to advance into the semi-finals, as she placed thirty-sixth overall, and was ranked below two mandatory slots for the next round.
Baraah Awadallah Marouane is a Jordanian middle distance runner. Awadallah represented Jordan at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where she competed for the women's 800 metres. She ran in the first heat of the event, against six other athletes, including Russia's Svetlana Klyuka, who nearly missed out of the medal podium in the final. She finished the race in last place by fifteen seconds behind Australia's Madeleine Pape, with her personal and seasonal best time of 2:18.41. Awadallah, however, failed to advance into the semi-finals, as she placed thirty-seventh overall, and was ranked farther below three mandatory slots for the next round. She was eventually upgraded to a higher overall position, when Croatia's Vanja Perišić had been disqualified for failing the doping test.
Mihaela Silvia Neacşu is a Romanian middle distance runner. She is a national indoor champion for the 800 metres, and outdoor for the 1500 metres. She set a personal best time of 1:59.78 by winning the gold medal for the 800 metres at the second meet of IAAF Golden Grand Prix in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Élodie Guégan is a French middle distance runner, who specialized in the 800 metres. She won two medals, silver and bronze, for the 800 metres at the 2005 European Athletics U23 Championships in Erfurt, Germany, and at the 2007 European Athletics U23 Championships in Debrecen, Hungary. She also set a personal best time of 1:58.93 by finishing fifth at the 2008 ÅF Golden League in Saint-Denis, Paris.
Anna Rostkowska is a Polish middle-distance runner, who specialized in the 800 metres. She won a gold medal for the 800 metres at the 2001 European Athletics U23 Championships in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and silver at the 2003 Summer Universiade in Jeju City, South Korea. She also set a personal best time of 1:58.72 by finishing fourth at the 2008 ÅF Golden League in Saint-Denis, Paris.
Malawi 
