text: cape verde at the 2008 summer olympics cape verde competed at the 2008 summer olympics in beijing , china . their participation marked their fourth olympic appearance . two cape verdeans competed in the olympic games : nelson cruz participated as a marathon runner , and wania monteiro participated in gymnastics . another athlete , santos , was selected to compete in athletics but was forced to pull out due to injury . monteiro was selected as the flag bearer for both the opening and closing ceremonies . neither of the cape verdeans progressed beyond the first round . background cape verde had participated in three previous summer olympics , between its debut in the 1996 summer olympics in atlanta , united states and the 2008 summer olympics in beijing . at their debut , the country sent three athletes to the games , all in athletics . the most number of cape verde athletes participating in a summer games , is three in 1996 , 2004 and 2012 . no cape verde athlete has ever progressed out of the first round . two athletes from cape verde were selected to compete in the 2008 games ; nelson cruz in the men 's marathon and wania monteiro in the women 's all - round gymnastics . athletics cape verde was represented by one athlete at the 2008 olympics in athletics . this person was nelson cruz a marathon runner . it was cruz 's olympic debut but he had competed in two iaaf world championships , in 2005 and in 2007 . he competed on the 24 august in beijing , and finished 48th out of 95 in a time of 2 hours , 23 minutes and 47 seconds , more than 17 minutes behind the winner , samuel kamau wanjiru . gymnastics rhythmic in the sport of rhythmic gymnastics , cape verde was represented by wania monteiro , who competed in the individual all - round . the beijing olympics was monteiro second olympic games after competing in the individual all - round in 2004 . in 2008 montero finished last in the qualifying round , with a score of 49 . 050 points .