São Tomé and Príncipe received universality slots from IAAF to send two athletes (one male and one female) to the Olympics. Romário Leitão made his Olympic debut by competing in the Men's 5000 m event while Celma Bonfim da Graça made her second Olympic appearance, with the first being in Beijing 2008. At the 2008 Olympics, she was one of three athletes to compete for São Tomé and Príncipe. She ran the 5000 metres, finishing 16th (and last) in her heat, still achieving a national record with the time of 17:25.99 minutes with a split time of 2:16.10 minutes behind Lucia Chandamale of Malawi. In these Olympics, Bonfim ran the women's 1500 metres event and finished 14th in her heat with a time of 4:38.86 minutes, failing to qualify for the semifinals. Leitão ran the men's 5000 metres and came 25th in his heat with a time of 15:53.32 minutes. He placed one ahead of Zouhair Aouad who did not finish, and did not qualify for the finals.