Mauritania competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics which was held in Beijing, China.

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.

[1] 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.

[2] Both were selected by wildcard places as neither achieved the "A" or "B" qualifying standards for their respective events.

[8] 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.