Burundi participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, China from 8 to 24 August 2008. It was Burundi's fourth appearance in the summer Olympics since its debut in 1996. The Burundi team included three athletes: runners Joachim Nshimirimana and Francine Niyonizigiye, as well as swimmer Elsie Uwamahoro. Niyonizigiye, a marathon runner, was flag bearer for the opening ceremony. None of the Burundi athletes progressed further than the qualifying round.
Épiphanie Nyirabaramé is a Rwandan athlete who specialized in marathon and long-distance running. She represented Rwanda at two Olympic games.
Zemzem Ahmed Deko is an Ethiopian steeplechase runner and road runner. She emerged as one of Ethiopia's top steeplechasers, and had broken her own personal records three times in 2007.
Pauline Curley is an Irish marathon runner. At age thirty-nine, she represented Ireland for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and competed in the women's marathon. She ran and finished the race in sixty-third place, with a time of 2:47:16. She also achieved her personal best, when she placed ninth at the 2008 Fortis Marathon in Rotterdam, Netherlands, with a time of 2:39:05. On 25 August 2013 she ran Longford Marathon, Ireland with a time of 2:44:22.
Eva-Maria Gradwohl is a retired Austrian long-distance and marathon runner. She is also four-time Austrian national champion in half-marathon, three-time in marathon, and two-time in 10-km road run. In 2010 Gradwohl retired from her sporting career, after refusing to take a doping test; according to NADA director Andreas Schwab, refusing to undergo a doping test was considered a positive test, and would be an obvious breach of the rules imposed in every sporting competition.
Nina Kathy Rillstone is a New Zealand long-distance and marathon runner. She is a national champion in both middle and long-distance running, and a national record holder for the half-marathon.
Nataliya Anatoliïvna Samorodina is a Ukrainian former swimmer, who specialized in butterfly events and open water marathon. She represented Ukraine in two editions of the Olympic Games and also swam for Ukraïna Zaporizhzhia.
Antonella Bogarín is an Argentine swimmer, who specialized in open water marathon events. She represented her nation Argentina at the 2008 Summer Olympics, finishing twenty-fourth in the inaugural open water marathon.
Sonia Calizaya Huanca is a Bolivian marathon runner. She set both a national record and a personal best time of 2:45:05 at the 2007 Buenos Aires Marathon.
Aurélie Muller is a French swimmer, who specializes in long-distance freestyle events and open water marathon. She won the 10-kilometer competition at the 2015 world championship in Kazan, Russia and at the 2017 world championship in Budapest, Hungary.
Tabitha Tsatsa is a Zimbabwean marathon elite veteran runner. She set both a national record and a personal best time of 2:29:20, by finishing fourth at the 2008 Dong-A Seoul International Marathon, held in Seoul, South Korea.
Inès Boubakri is a Tunisian foil fencer. She is a four-time Olympian, who won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and is a member of Association sportive de Bourg-la-Reine in France, under head coach Yann Detienne.
María Portillo Cruz is a Peruvian marathon runner. Portillo made her official debut for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where she placed thirty-second out of fifty-four runners in the women's marathon, with a time of 2:36:50.
Ana Maria Guerreiro Dias is a Portuguese long-distance and marathon runner. She is a four-time Olympian, and a multiple-time national record holder for the long-distance running. She also set a personal best time of 2:28:49, by finishing fourth in the women's race at the 2003 Berlin Marathon.
Daniela Guerra Inácio is a Russian-born Portuguese swimmer, who specialized in open water marathon. She represented her nation Portugal at the 2008 Summer Olympics, finishing seventeenth in the inaugural 10 km race.
Chae Eun-Hee is a South Korean marathon runner. Chae represented South Korea at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where she competed in the women's marathon, along with her teammates and fellow runners Lee Eun-Jung and Lee Sun-Young. She successfully finished the race in fifty-third place by twenty-one seconds behind Germany's Susanne Hahn, with a time of 2:38:52.
Patricia Rétiz Gutiérrez is a Mexican marathon runner. She set a personal best time of 2:30:29, by winning the 2008 LALA Marathon in Torreón, Coahuila.
Katja Wächter is a German foil fencer. In 2009, Wachter won a silver medal for the same weapon at the European Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and bronze, as a member of the German fencing team, at the World Championships in Antalya, Turkey.
Levent Tuncat is a German taekwondo practitioner of Turkish descent. He won three gold medals for the 54 and 58 kg classes at the European Taekwondo Championships.
Kate Harris-Smyth is an Australian marathon runner. She set her personal best time of 2:28:51, by finishing second at the 2008 Nagano Olympic Commemorative Marathon in Japan.
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