Medal Count: 10 Countries You Never Heard Of

Great was my surprise to see that Micronesia had not won any medals yet on the current Olympics in Beijing, but some other countries were truly a revelation for me to appear in the list of participating countries in the Olympics. Here an update for the ignorant among you, who up till now, never new all the countries of the world (or need quiz questions)

Djibouti

Wtf?Ever heard of this country in the horn of Africa, neigbored by Ethiopia and Somalia?It gained independence in 1977 after being a French protectorat for a number of years..

Saint Kitts And Nevis

Don't know if these guys are going to win any medals, cos I have no idea what facilites this island in the Caribean has to produce top athletes. Noteworthy though: Nevis tried to gain independance from Saint Kitts (named after Christoffel Colombus) in 98', but not enough people voted pro. Size: 168 km². Population: 35 000

Kingdom of Tonga

Apparantly this island, half way between New Zealand and Hawaii, is the only one that has never formely been colonized. Upon his first visit in 1773, Captain Cook baptised these island as 'The Friendly Islands' because of the hearthy reception by inhabitants. I wonder If they also have friendly athletes nowadays.

Tuvalu

This island-country midway between Australia and Hawaii is the third least populated in the world and second smallest country in the United Nations. The Island is 26 km² big, the 4th smalles after Vatican City, Monaco and Nauru. Formerly knows as the Ellis Islands, the place was under the rule of the Brits till the late seventies.

Other countries included in Google's Olympic Medal Count Widget the interested reader (if any) can look up himself :

-Guam
-Kiribati
-Nauru
-Palau
-Samoa
-Vanuatu