Medal hopes shattered

800m Final1. M. Gunther (Aus) 1:51.82 WR2. N. Samir (Alg) 1:52.33 RR3. A. Tarbei (Ken) 1:53.03 SB8. H. Muvunyi (Rwa) DQRWANDA’S hopes of winning a medal in the 2012 London Paralympic medal blew apart when Hermas Muvunyi was disqualified in the Men’s 800m T46 final last night at the Olympic stadium in London. Muvunyi finished the 800m final in bronze medal position with a personal best time of 1.52.80 behind Austria’s Matzinger Gunther who grabbed his second goal medal after clocking 1.51.82 to even set a new world record.Algeria’s Nouioua Sammy won silver after clocking 1.52.33 to set a new African record.However, Muvunyi who was the country’s last hope of podium pride never lived up to the expectations of witnessing the medal awarding ceremony because organizers stripped him the medal position and disqualified him for having pushed Kenya’s Tarbei en-route to the finishing line.Tarbei who had finished fourth after clocking 1.53.03 was decorated the bronze medal winner to ensure that Rwanda ends her Olympic and Paralympic games pursuit in London with no medal for eight consecutive times.Theoneste Nsengimana missed out on the men’s T46 1,500m final and Theogene Hakizimana was 10th in the men’s under-82.5kg power lifting are the other athletes who displayed poor performance despite making debutants in London Games.Rwanda, who have participated in the Olympic Games since 1984 in Los Angeles, have only won one Olympic or Paralympic medal in their history.That was back in 2004 when Jean de Dieu Nkundabera wrote history after becoming the first Rwandan to win a medal (bronze) in the T46 men’s 800 metre race, with a time of 1:58.95 in Athens.