Talk:Mauritania at the 2024 Summer Olympics/GA1

GA review

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Nominator: History6042 (talk · contribs) 00:44, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

Reviewer: Reidgreg (talk · contribs) 19:47, 18 April 2025 (UTC)

Initial comments

Looks like a nice article with good coverage. I noticed a little bit of repetition in the prose but we can take care of that in due course. I always find it better to start big to ensure broad subject coverage and then worry about conciseness after the content and layout is decided.

My reviews tend to be a bit more thorough than average, starting with a check of all available sources. This usually takes me a couple days. Please hold any edits to the article while I'm working on it. I may do some light copyediting as I go; if you disagree with any of that we can discuss it as part of the review. Review to be forthcoming. – Reidgreg (talk) 14:28, 19 April 2025 (UTC)

Okay, posting full review. I use a fair amount of markup; please let me know if you have trouble understanding anything. I'm open to discussion if you disagree about anything. Please place any specific questions or comments under the relative bullet points below and general discussion at the end. When you're done addressing everything, please leave me a note to that effect under general discussion at the bottom. Thanks! – Reidgreg (talk) 16:13, 21 April 2025 (UTC)

Criterion

GA review (see here for what the criteria are, and here for what they are not)

1. It is reasonably well written.

   a (prose, spelling, and grammar): b (MoS for lead, layout, word choice, fiction, and lists):

2. It is factually accurate and verifiable, as shown by a source spot-check.

   a (reference section): b (inline citations to reliable sources): c (OR): d (copyvio and plagiarism):

3. It is broad in its coverage.

   a (major aspects): b (focused):

4. It follows the neutral point of view policy.

   Fair representation without bias:

5. It is stable.

   No edit wars, etc.:

6. It is illustrated by images and other media, where possible and appropriate.

   a (images are tagged and non-free content have non-free use rationales): b (appropriate use with suitable captions):

7. Overall:

   Pass/Fail:

   I expect this to meet the GA criteria with a little more attention to detail.

Review comments

Referencing & verifiability

• "Country Summary" CIA world factbook. Used once.
  • In 2023 the country had a population of 4,244,000. To be nit-picky about it, how about 'estimated population' and round the figure to 4,245,000. Done
• Mauritania vote 'free and fair' BBC News. Used once:
  • Formerly a French colony within French West Africa (1904–1960), Mauritania gained independence on 1960. The underlined part is not covered by the source but is one of those "readily verifiable" facts that doesn't need to be cited. (If the parenthetic date range is contested, it might be better to leave it out.) Done
• Национальные олимпийские комитеты Африки — Олимпийский комитет России Russian Olympic Committee. I added a |trans-title= to the citation; not part of the GA criteria but I've seen nominations held at DYK over that.
  • The Mauritanian National Olympic and Sports Committee was formed in 1962 and was recognized by the International Olympic Committee in 1979.
• Mauritania - at the olympics - olympic medals and facts Olympian Database. The site is used as a source in about a hundred articles. It appears to be a well-organized fansite. There's no indication of who they are or what editorial controls they exercise. I'm not saying that their information is bad or wrong, but I don't feel that it meets Wikipedia standards for a reliable source.N Used once:
  • Mauritania has participated in every Summer Olympics since its debut in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Mauritania's largest delegation sent to any single Summer Games was six, a number reached at both the 1988 Games in Seoul, South Korea, and at the 1992 Games in Barcelona, Spain. No Mauritanian has ever won a medal at the Olympics. The underlined part is not covered by that page of the source.  Removed
  • Looking for an alternative source, I came across Olympedia.org which is something of a historical society (which might be frowned upon by some editors) but they list their contributors (details) and authorship seems to be restricted to academics and researchers specializing in Olympic history. The Olympedia page located here can be used to verify everything in the passage above, except for the locations, which I feel is a bit extraneous in any case (see comments under Prose). Suggest replacing the olympiandatabase.com citation with a citation to this. Done This source could also be used for the earlier sentence about the formation and recognition of their Olympic committee.
• When the 2024 Paris Olympics start, end this summer NBC. used once for period of games.
• named reference ":4" Salam Bouha Ahamdy | NBC Olympics. Used three times:
  • Mauritania sent a delegation of two athletes. Sprinter Salam Bouha Ahamdy made her debut in the women's 100 metres The two-athlete delegation is not there, suggest dropping in a citation to Olympedia at the end of the first sentence. Removed The cited source doesn't seem to have her event, either. (There's a pictogram that looks like a sprinter but the filename suggests to me that it's used for all track & field events.) Suggest using https://www.olympics.com/en/athletes/salam-bouha-ahamdy for the second sentence. Done
  • Ahamdy was 23 years old at the time of the Olympics. She was making her first appearance at the games. and later Ahamdy was making her first appearance at the games.
• named reference ":0" Olympics.com Used twice:
  • and swimmer Camil Doua made his Olympic debut in the men's 50 m freestyle event.
  • Doua was making his first appearance at the games.
• Paris 2024: Opening ceremony flagbearers information Olympics.
  • Ahamdy and Doua served as flagbearers during the parade of nations at the opening ceremony,
• Every Olympic flagbearer for Paris 2024 closing ceremony including Alex Yee and Katie Ledecky The Independent.
  • and the flag was held by a volunteer in the closing ceremony.
• Swimmer Ould Doua represents Mauritania in the World Swimming Championships in Qatar Tawassoul. Doesn't appear to be at that URL, but I added archive links to the Wayback Machine. I'm not sure where this organization fits in terms of journalistic view, but it seems good enough for sports.
  • Doua was 22 years old at the time of the Olympics, Source gives only his birth year of 2002, so depending on his birthdate we can say he was either 21 or 22 at the time of the 2024 Olympics.N Checked named reference "auto2", which has his age as 22 in April 2024. Combining the two sources, we can say his age is 22 at the time of the Olympics. So please add a citation to "auto2". Done
• named reference ":3" "Mauritania selects swimmer Camil Ould Doua to be flag bearer at Paris 2024 Olympics" SwimSwam. This source appears as the named reference ":3" twice and also as the named reference "auto1" and the named reference "auto12". I changed these all to ":3".
  • and he made Mauritania's swimming debut. Not in source.N Removed One of the extant sources probably has this... checking, Suggestion: Olympedia says in its text that as of 2022 Mauritania had "competed only in two sports: track & field athletics and wrestling", so you could use this here and for the bullet below. Done
  • Mauritania sent one swimmer to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics, who made the nation's debut in the sport. The underlined part is not in the source.N Removed but could be restored as above. Done
  • Camil has several Mauritanian national records, including in the 50 m freestyle, 100 m freestyle, 50 m butterfly, and 50 m backstroke events., although this should be qualified (see Prose).
  • used one more time in combination with ref "auto" below
• named reference ":1" "Entries list - Swimming" World Aquatics. Okay, the link is to download a .xlsx document. I added file format and page number to the citation to make it a little less surprising and a little easier to find the information. Source is good. Used twice:
  • He qualified via a universality place, which were reserved for athletes from under-represented nations. and He qualified via universality place. Doua's row on the spreadsheet has "U" under the "QT" column, which is a bit cryptic. There is no key to acronyms. The rule for verification is that the information should be obvious to anyone without specialized knowledge.N I feel that another source is needed for this, or a complimentary source which explains the World Aquatics acronyms in the document (being clear that it applies to the cited document).
  • Found this at Eurosport.it which looks to cover his universality place. Done citation parameters in reference ":1" changed to this source.
• named reference "auto2" "On the way to the Olympics. Swimming: the crazy quest of Camil Ould Doua, on behalf of Mauritania" Sud Ouest. Used once:
  • He had previously attempted to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics but was unable to, as the Mauritanian law at the time would have required him to give up his French citizenship to compete for them. Quick note that this is from an interview, so might need some rephrasing.
  • This source has his age as 22 in April 2024. (per note above)
• named reference "auto" "Mauritanian international swimmer Kamel Ould Al-Douh" Essada. Google translate came up with a different title: "The Bridges of Goodness Association honors the international Mauritanian swimmer, Kamel Ould Douh". Used in combination with ":3" once:
  • By 2023, the Mauritanian law had changed and he was able to obtain dual citizenship to represent the country in international competitions. ":3" confirms that he obtained Mauritanian citizenship before the 2024 World Aquatics Championships. "auto" doesn't add much. Neither mentions the law changing. Suggest adding "auto2" which has "I then learned that the Mauritanian law regarding dual nationals had changed". Note, however, that this is an interview and that Douh is not a reliable source for Mauritanian legislation, so we'll have to check the phrasing (addressed in Prose, below). Done references "auto", "auto2" and ":3" now all at the end of the second sentence about the citizenship law.
• unnamed reference "On the way to the Olympics. Swimming: Grégory Mallet, coach and a little more than that for Girondin Camil Ould Doua". Sud Ouest. This reference is used twice. I have named it "QueuilleCoach" (author-subject).
  • In preparation for the Olympics, he was trained by French Olympic medalist Grégory Mallet.
  • In preparation for the Games, he was trained by French Olympic medalist Grégory Mallet.
• named reference ":5" The URL appears to be the target of a redirect from the sought URL, with the page title "Eurosport is not available in your region". So, no this is insufficient for verification purposes, it doesn't give any indication of where the information might be other than the website domain.N Used twice:
  • She qualified via universality place. Removed
  • She qualified via universality place.
  • Found another source to replace this: Cousin, Victor (1 August 2024). "JO Paris 2024 : « Je ne sais pas ce qu'il s'est passé »... Une marathonienne va courir le 100 m pour les Salomon" [Paris 2024 Olympics: "I don't know what happened" ... A marathon runner will run the 100m for the Solomon Islands]. Le Parisien (in French). Agence France-Presse. Retrieved 20 April 2025. It has a list of the universality placements for the women's 100m. Done Citation parameters of reference ":5" replaced with this source, and now an unnamed reference.
• named reference ":2" This redirects to a search page. Published sources are preferred to search engine results, which are generated on request and can vary, and it may be difficult to archive a snapshot. I found that the URL https://worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115/athletes?competitionGroup=olympic-games&urlSlug=the-xxxiii-olympic-games-7153115&countryCode=MTN returns good search results at the moment, though I'm not sure if it will archive.
  • Mauritania sent one sprinter to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics.N not verified from present URL, though the one I provided above works for now. Done Added new URL as a second (unnamed) reference. Note that the search engine results did not archive properly.
• unnamed reference Women's 100m - Preliminary Round - Heat 1/4 results Olympics.com. Dead URL. Found it at the Wayback Machine and added archive parameters to citation.
  • She competed in the women's 100 m event, held on 2 August 2024. She was drawn in heat one in the preliminaries. Ahamdy finished eighth out of nine athletes in her heat and 33rd overall with a time of 13.71 seconds, failing to qualify for the heats round. Good for everything except the underlined part.
    • I looked at the sources again, and while there is enough data for Doua's swimming heats, the source cited for Ahamdy's overall place only lists the heat she ran; without some data on the other heats I can't determine her overall rank. We need that or a source which explicitly states her overall rank. Not done Removed
• unnamed reference "An Olympic sprinter fell during a race. The first person to help was her opponent" NPR used once:
  • During her race, one of her competitors, Lucia Moris of South Sudan, fell to the ground after a leg injury. After Ahamdy finished her race she came over to help Moris.
• named reference ":23" Olympics (archived).
  • He competed in the men's 50 m freestyle event, held on 1 August 2024. He was drawn in heat four in the heats. Doua finished last out of 8 athletes in his heat and 55th overall with a time of 26.02 seconds, failing to qualify for the semifinal round. Good except for the underlined part.
    • I didn't dig into the raw statistics on my first pass, but now see that the swimming heats were arranged by expected order and so it's simple enough to make a count for overall place. For Doua, everyone in heats 1–3 were slower than him; he was slowest in heat 4 (out of 8 competitors), and everybody else was faster. So adding the competitors who finished in heats 4–10, I get 8+8+8+7+7+8+8=54. Which would make him 54th place, not 55th. (One competitor scheduled for Heat 8 did not start.) Suggestion: change Doua's overall rank to 54, unless you disagree. Done
• The sourcing of the prose currently covers all the information in the tables except for the overall rank of each athlete Ahamdy.

Prose

• Mauritania competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from 26 July 2024 to 11 August 2024. Taken literally, that makes it sound like they competed on every one of those days instead of only 1 and 2 August. Suggest: in Paris, which took place from ...
• The delegation consisted of two athletes, one man and one woman, competing in athletics and swimming. Sprinter Salam Bouha Ahamdy represented Mauritania in the women's 100 m event, and Camil Doua competed in the men's 50 m freestyle. Can we combine these sentences to avoid repetition? Suggest: The delegation consisted of two athletes: sprinter Salam Bouha Ahamdy, who competed in the women's 100 m event, and swimmer Camil Doua, who competed in the men's 50 m freestyle
• Thus, Mauritania is yet to win an Olympic medal. I feel that "had yet to win" would work better.
• Mauritania gained independence on 1960. → gained independence in 1961.
• Mauritania has participated in every Summer Olympics since its debut in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Mauritania's largest delegation sent to any single Summer Games was six, a number reached at both the 1988 Games in Seoul, South Korea, and at the 1992 Games in Barcelona, Spain. I think this should be had participated. I feel that the locations are a bit of unnecessary detail. How about: Mauritania had participated in every Summer Olympics since its debut in 1984. Its largest delegation of athletes was six at both the 1988 and 1992 Games.
  • Changed → Mauritania has participated in every Summer Olympics since its debut in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. (the last sentence was removed). The reasons I felt that it should be past-tense had participated are (1) because this is the Background section and referring to past happenings, and (2) so this does not become outdated if the truth of the statement changes in a future reader's present. What do you think? Done
• No Mauritanian has ever won a medal at the Olympics. I think this should be either "No Mauritanian had won a medal at the Olympics." or "Mauritania had never won a medal at the Olympics."
• Layout: The second paragraph of Background is problematic with a lot of information which is stated elsewhere in the body. I would suggest either framing it as information which happened before the games as Background (e.g.: Sending the delegation to the games, that they had not competed at the Olympics before, that they had qualified through universality, that they had been chosen as flagbearers) or presenting it as information common to the two athletes in Competitors. Then remove the repetitive parts from the rest of the body (it's okay to have it in the lead).
• Similarly, gather all of the information about Doua's citizenship and eligibility to represent Mauritania together.
• He had previously attempted to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics but was unable to, as the Mauritanian law at the time would have required him to give up his French citizenship to compete for them. By 2023, the Mauritanian law had changed and he was able to obtain dual citizenship to represent the country in international competitions. Note that the position of citations may have changed slightly per referencing above. Of the three sources, the only one addressing the law is an interview with Doua, and Doua is presumably not a reliable source on Mauritanian law. Thus we should be careful in stating this so that it is clear this is Doua's viewpoint/opinion and not established fact. Suggest: He had previously attempted to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics but said that he was unable to do so without abandoning his French citizenship due to Mauritanian law at the time. By 2023, this situation had changed, and he was able to obtain dual citizenship and represent Mauritania in international competitions. Not done
• Camil has several Mauritanian national records → At the time, Camil held several Mauritanian national records
• Mauritania sent one sprinter to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Ahamdy was making her first appearance at the games. She qualified via universality place. The first two sentences have already been stated and the third sentence could be put under Competitors as universality placement applies to both athletes.  Sure! Kept the first sentence with the last two sentences removed, as they appear in the previous section.
• She competed in the women's 100 m event, held on 2 August 2024. Could probably omit the year.
• During her race, one of her competitors, Lucia Moris of South Sudan, fell to the ground after a leg injury. After Ahamdy finished her race she came over to help Moris. Repetitive use of the word after, and I don't feel "fell to to the ground" is necessary (where else would she fall?). Suggest: Following the race, Ahamdy went to help competitor Lucia Moris of South Sudan, who had fallen due to a leg injury.
  • Changed → During her race, one of her competitors, Lucia Moris of South Sudan, fell after a leg injury. Once Ahamdy had finished her race she came over to help Moris. I feel that this could be more concise, and that the sentence structure could be simplified. (With the clauses and during/after/once/over, it's more complex than it needs to be.) I think it would also be better to keep Ahamdy as the subject. Suggestion: As an alternative to my suggestion above, I tried adding a little: After the race, Ahamdy went to help Lucia Moris of South Sudan, who had fallen due to a leg injury and was unable to finish. Done
• With Swimming, there could again be some redundancies depending on earlier changes in the article.
• Doua finished last out of 8 athletes in his heat and 55th overall I can see arguments for stating 8 as either a numeral or a word, but for consistency with the previous section I'd rather see it as eight.

Breadth & focus

• Breadth looks good to me, very thorough, didn't spot anything missing from coverage in the sources. There is some repetition and minor layout addressed above. There is more background on the country than I've seen in similar articles, but I see that as being useful information for the reader and not a lack of focus.

Neutrality

No neutrality issues detected.

Stability

No reversions in the edit history or other signs of edit warring. The expansion was so recent that there really hasn't been time to demonstrate stability of the content. Following the expansion, one other editor has made edits to the article which were improvements overall. So, stable enough.

Media

A public domain flag in the infobox.

Other areas to improve

Although not part of the GA criteria, here are some other areas you might want to improve:

• In future, please check that your citation templates are tidy and the references are named consistently (all of them, even if they're only used once). This is not required, but it makes the reviewer's job a lot easier. Give references a name identifiable with the source like author-year rather than arbitrary machine-generated ones like ":3", "auto1" and "auto12" – which had all been used for the same source in the nominated version of the article.
• It seems to me that there should be some encyclopedic public domain images out there for a high profile event like this.
• The search engine results from World Athletics did not archive. Because it allows verification today, I'm passing it. But at some point in the future that link will go dead, so please try to find a stable source that will verify the information.

General discussion

@History6042: I feel that this article should be able to meet the GA criteria with a little work. I've tried to offer suggestions above for most points. Please take your time with this and feel free to ask any questions. I'm open to discussion if you disagree with anything. Please leave specific questions/comments under the relevant bullet points above, with overall comments and status of the review down here. When you've finished addressing everything or if you're stuck on something and need my attention, please {{ping|Reidgreg}} here and let me know. Thanks. – Reidgreg (talk) 16:13, 21 April 2025 (UTC)

@Reidgreg:,  Done all. History6042😊 (Contact me) 16:44, 21 April 2025 (UTC)

@History6042: Good work! There are a few outsanding issues which I've marked with  Not done, Suggestion or ?, if you could get to these. – Reidgreg (talk) 19:16, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

@Reidgreg,  Done or  Removed. History6042😊 (Contact me) 19:51, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

@History6042: All that's left are the two sentences on Mauritanian law/citizenship. (The 9th bullet under Prose.) Bear in mind that there are stricter sourcing standards for medicine and law. If you could either rephrase it similar to what I suggested, or find a good legal source on the change to citizenship laws at that time. Once that's done, I think the article will be ready for the green plus. – Reidgreg (talk) 20:47, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

@Reidgreg, I rephrased it how you suggested. History6042😊 (Contact me) 20:50, 23 April 2025 (UTC)

Great! I am satisfied that the article meets the GA criteria and am passing it now. Congrats! – Reidgreg (talk) 21:01, 23 April 2025 (UTC)