Cape Verde at the 2000 Summer Olympics
The Comité Olímpico Cabo-verdeano (Olympic Committee of Cape Verde) was recognized by the International Olympic Committee on 1 January 1993. Their first Summer Olympics were the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, where they sent 3 athletes, all in athletics. As of the 2018, Cape Verde has never won an Olympic medal. The 2000 Summer Olympics were held from 15 September to 1 October 2000; a total of 10,651 athletes represented 199 National Olympic Committees. Sydney was their second appearance at an Olympic Games; the island nation has never participated at a Winter Olympic Games as of the 2018 Winter Olympics. The Cape Verdean delegation to Sydney consisted of two track and field athletes, Isménia do Frederico and António Zeferino. Do Frederico was chosen as the flag bearer for the opening ceremony.
2000 Summer Olympics
Sydney won the right to host the Games on 24 September 1993, after being selected over Beijing, Berlin, Istanbul and Manchester in four rounds of voting, at the 101st IOC Session in Monte Carlo, Monaco. The Australian city of Melbourne had lost out to Atlanta for the 1996 Summer Olympics four years earlier. Beijing lost its bid to host the games to Sydney in 1993, but was later awarded the 2008 Summer Olympics in July 2001 after Sydney hosted the previous year, and it would eventually be awarded the 2022 Winter Olympics twenty-two years later in 2015. Although it is impossible to know why members of the International Olympic Committee voted for Sydney over Beijing in 1993, it appears that an important role was played by Human Rights Watch's campaign to "stop Beijing" because of China's human rights record. Many in China were angry at what they saw as U.S.-led interference in the vote, and the outcome contributed to rising anti-Western sentiment in China and tensions in Sino-American relations.