Jackson Niyomugao, at the age of 24, was the only Rwandian competitor in the London Games to have participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He qualified the Games after receiving a wildcard from the Olympic Solidarity Committee which was announced in the week before the start of the Olympics and was the last Rwandan athlete to attain qualification. After being eliminated from the heat stages in the previous Olympic Games in Beijing Niyomugao said he wanted to win a medal in London and that if he had more support, he would possibly be able to swim quicker but hoped to see the results. He was drawn in the second heat of the men's 50 metre freestyle on 2 August, finishing fourth out of seven swimmers, with a time of 27.38 seconds. Overall he finished 52nd out of 58 competitors overall, but did not progress to the semi-finals because her time was 5.11 seconds slower than the slowest swimmer who made the later stages.