text: mauritania at the 2008 summer olympics mauritania competed at the 2008 summer olympics which was held in beijing , china . the country 's participation at beijing marked its seventh appearance in the summer olympics since its debut in the 1984 summer olympics . the delegation included two track and field athletes , souleymane ould chebal and bounkou camara , who were both selected by wildcards after both failed to meet either the " a " or " b " qualifying standards . chebal was selected as the flag bearer for the opening ceremony . neither of the mauritanians progressed beyond the heats . background mauritania participated in seven summer olympic games between its debut in the 1984 summer olympics in los angeles , united states and the 2008 summer olympics in beijing . two athletes from mauritania were selected to compete in the beijing games ; souleymane ould chebal in the track and field 800 meters and bounkou camara in the track and field 100 meters . both were selected by wildcard places as neither achieved the " a " or " b " qualifying standards for their respective events . chebal was the flag bearer for the opening ceremony . athletics souleymane ould chebal competed at the 2008 summer olympics in the 800 meters . he was notable for carrying the mauritania flag at the opening ceremony . making his debut at the summer olympics , he qualified via a wildcard place as his best time , 1 : 56 . 45 in the 2007 world championships in athletics 800 meters , was 9 . 45 seconds slower than the " b " qualifying standard required . he competed on 20 august against seven other athletes in heat five , finishing last out of the seven that finished with a time of 1 minute 57 . 43 seconds . he was 11 . 25 seconds slower than the winner of his heat manuel olmedo . overall he finished 61st out of 65 athletes , and was 10 . 91 seconds behind the slowest athlete that progressed to the next round and , therefore , that was the end of his competition . competing at her first olympics , bounkou camara qualified for the summer olympics via a wildcard place as her best time , 13 . 93 seconds in the 2007 world championships in athletics women 's 100 meters , was 2 . 51 seconds slower than the " b " qualifying standard required . she competed on august 16 in the third heat against eight other athletes , finishing last with a time of 13 . 69 seconds . she was 2 . 36 seconds slower than the winner of her heat muna lee . overall camara finished 79th out of 85 athletes and was 2 . 08 seconds behind the slowest athlete that progressed to the quarter - finals . therefore , she did not advance . key note – ranks given for track events are within the athlete 's heat only q qualified for the next round q qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or , in field events , by position without achieving the qualifying target nr national record n / a round not applicable for the event bye athlete not required to compete in round men women