# Central African Republic at the 1988 Summer Olympics

The Central African Republic competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. This marked the third appearance of the nation at a Summer Olympics. The country entered 15 competitors, the highest number of Central Africans appearing at any Games so far; with the basketball team comprising 12 of them. In addition to the boxers Fidèle Mohinga and Moussa Wiawindi, there was marathon runner Adolphe Ambowodé, who had previously competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics. No medals were won by any of those athletes.

## Background

The Central African Republic made its debut in the Olympic Games at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico. The country has twice boycotted the Olympic Games, first was because of the inclusion of the New Zealand team at the 1976 Summer Olympics despite the breach of the international sports boycott of South Africa by the nation's rugby union team shortly prior. Then in 1980, the country was one of several who joined in with a United States led boycott over the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan during the Soviet–Afghan War. The highest number of Central African athletes entered in a team for an Olympics is 15, occurring at both the 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympics.

## Competitors

The following is the list of number of competitors in the Games.
| Sport | Men | Women | Total |
| Athletics | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Basketball | 12 | 0 | 12 |
| Boxing | 2 | – | 2 |
| Total | 15 | 0 | 15 |

## Athletics

At his previous appearance the 1984 Summer Olympics, runner Adolphe Ambowodé completed the Men's marathon in a time of 2:41:26, finishing in 70th place. His time in the marathon at the 1988 Games was nearly 18 minutes faster, with the runner finishing in a time of 2:23:52 in 42nd place out of the 98 athletes completing the course. The result was the best performance by a Central African at an athletics so far.

### Marathon

| Event | Athlete | Race | Race |
| Event | Athlete | Time | Rank |
| Men's marathon | Adolphe Ambowodé | 2:23:52 | 42 |

## Basketball

The Central African team qualified for the Olympics following their victory at the FIBA Africa Championship 1987 in December that year. They were one of two African teams, alongside the basketball squad from Egypt.

### Summary

Key:
* FT – After full time.
* P – Match decided by penalty-shootout.
| Team | Event | Group stage | Group stage | Group stage | Group stage | Group stage | Group stage | Quarterfinal | Semifinal | Final / BM | Final / BM |
| Team | Event | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Rank | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Opposition Score | Rank |
| Central African Republic men's | Men's tournament | South Korea W 73–70 | Yugoslavia L 61–102 | Australia L 67–106 | Puerto Rico L 67–71 | Soviet Union L 78–87 | 5 | — | Egypt W 63–57 | South Korea L 81–89 | 10 |

### Team roster

The following is the Central African Republic roster in the men's basketball tournament of the 1988 Summer Olympics.

### Group play

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Yugoslavia | 5 | 4 | 1 | 468 | 384 | +84 | 9 | Quarterfinals |
| 2 | Soviet Union | 5 | 4 | 1 | 460 | 393 | +67 | 9 | Quarterfinals |
| 3 | Australia | 5 | 3 | 2 | 429 | 408 | +21 | 8 | Quarterfinals |
| 4 | Puerto Rico | 5 | 3 | 2 | 382 | 387 | −5 | 8 | Quarterfinals |
| 5 | Central African Republic | 5 | 1 | 4 | 346 | 436 | −90 | 6 | 9th–12th classification round |
| 6 | South Korea (H) | 5 | 0 | 5 | 384 | 461 | −77 | 5 | 9th–12th classification round |
* 1 2 Head-to-head record: Yugoslavia 1–0 Soviet Union
* 1 2 Head-to-head record: Australia 1–0 Puerto Rico
* 18 September 1988
| Central African Republic | 73–70 | South Korea |
| Scoring by half: 47–30, 26–40 |||
* Jamsil Gymnasium, Seoul
* 20 September 1988
| Central African Republic | 61–102 | Yugoslavia |
| Scoring by half: 21–51, 40–51 |||
* Jamsil Gymnasium, Seoul
* 21 September 1988
| Australia | 106–67 | Central African Republic |
| Scoring by half: 57–35, 49–32 |||
* Jamsil Gymnasium, Seoul
* 23 September 1988
| Central African Republic | 67–71 | Puerto Rico |
| Scoring by half: 41–27, 26–34 |||
* Jamsil Gymnasium, Seoul
* 24 September 1988
| Central African Republic | 78–87 | Soviet Union |
| Scoring by half: 31–40, 47–47 |||
* Jamsil Gymnasium, Seoul

### Classification round (9th–12th place)

* 26 September 1988 (1988-09-26) 09:45
* Boxscore
| Central African Republic | 63–57 | Egypt |
| Scoring by half: 33–31, 30–26 |||
| Pts: F. Goporo, Bella 15 Rebs: Lavodrama 16 Asts: Lavodrama 7 | | Pts: Khalil 17 Rebs: Khalil 8 Asts: Amir 4 |
* Jamsil Gymnasium, Seoul

### Classification round (9th/10th place)

* 29 September 1988 16:30
* Boxscore
| Central African Republic | 81–89 | South Korea |
| Scoring by half: 41–43, 40–46 |||
| Pts: Lavodrama 14 Rebs: Lavodrama 12 Asts: Kotta 3 | | Pts: Lee CH 31 Rebs: Lee MK 8 Asts: Kim HJ 6 |
* Jamsil Gymnasium, Seoul

## Boxing

The Central African Republic entered two boxers in the tournaments at the 1988 Summer Olympics, Fidèle Mohinga and Moussa Wiawindi. Mohinga competed in the welterweight class, defeating Adão N'Zuzi of Angola in the first round on 20 September. But, he was defeated by Maselino Masoe of American Samoa in the following round, four days later. Wiawindi was defeated in the first round of the light-middleweight tournament by Cameroon's François Mayo.

### Boxing

| Name | Event | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final |
| Name | Event | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result |
| Fidèle Mohinga | Welterweight | N'Zuzi (ANG) W Points | Masoe (ASA) L Points | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| Moussa Wiawindi | Light-Middleweight | Mayo (CMR) L Points | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |