Politics

Africa: Who Are the African Athletes to Watch Out for At Paris Olympics?

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Africa is represented in most disciplines at the Paris Games and every athlete is striving for a medal. RFI looks at a selection of the favourites.

South Sudan soars in basketball

Just 13 years after gaining independence, South Sudan will be a star attraction in the men’s basketball competition. It’s the only country to represent the African continent in men’s basketball, although Nigeria is in the women’s competition.

South Sudan‘s Bright Stars qualified for the 2024 Paris Games via their first appearance at the Fiba World Cup in September last year.

Their victory over Angola (101-78), combined with Egypt’s defeat by New Zealand (86-88), ensured that they finished as the top African team at the World Cup.

The country has risen from 82nd to 33rd place in the International Basketball Federation’s world rankings, making it the second highest-ranked African team, behind Côte d’Ivoire in 31st place.

Championed by former National Basketball Association (NBA) star Luol Deng – now president of the South Sudan Basketball Federation – the Bright Stars are, in the words of player Wenyen Gabriel, “a bunch of refugees that come together for a few weeks each year, trying our best, playing against some of the best players ever”.

Marathon man Kipchoge eyes third Olympic gold

Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge is undoubtedly one of the most eagerly awaited African athletes at the Paris Games.

The 39-year-old is already a double Olympic marathon champion, having won in Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021.

He’s currently tied with Ethiopian legend Abebe Bilkila, winner in 1960 and 1964, and Germany’s Waldemar Cierpinski, who won in Montreal in 1976 and Moscow in 1980.

If he secures a hat trick in Paris on 11 August, Kipchoge will be crowned the greatest of all time.

Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge makes history by running a marathon in under two hours

Ta Lou sprints for the podium

Ivorian sprinter Marie-Josée Ta Lou has made it clear this is her last Olympics and last chance to finally get a medal.

The four-time Olympic finalist, now 35, finished fourth in both the 100m and 200m in her Olympic debut at Rio 2016, missing out on the 100m bronze by seven-thousandths of a second.

At Tokyo 2020 she came fourth in the 100m and fifth in the 200m.

Ta Lou was 100m and 200m runner-up in the London World Athletics Championships in 2017.

She wants to break that cycle in Paris and finally climb to the top of the podium.

“I am determined to give it my all to finish on a high note. My aim is the podium, I strive for the gold medal because I don’t want to leave these last Olympics without a medal,” she told Ivorian media in March this year.

Faso’s Zango to leap into history books again?

Burkina Faso’s triple jump star Hugues Fabrice Zango made history at Tokyo 2020 when he claimed bronze in the men’s event – becoming the first Burkinabé to win an Olympic medal.

His bronze in Doha in 2019 was the nation’s first World Athletics Championships medal; he took silver in Oregon in 2022 and then gold in Budapest in August 2023.

The 30-year-old, who also has a doctorate in electrical engineering, was crowned world indoor champion in March this year, beating Algeria’s Yasser Triki and Portugal’s Tiago Pereira.

Hopes are high that Zango could bring Burkina Faso its first Olympic gold medal.

Cissé looks to reclaim taekwondo title

Cheick Salah Junior Cissé is out to win his second taekwondo Olympic title after Rio in 2016, when he beat British athlete Lutalo Muhammad in the very last second of the competition to become the first Ivorian to win an Olympic gold medal.

The 30-year-old is flag bearer for Côte d’Ivoire’s delegation to Paris 2024, along with Marie-Josée Ta Lou.

Cissé lost his Olympic welterweight title in the Tokyo Games in his opening fight against Achraf Mahboubi of Morocco.

But he won his first world title and first world medal at last year’s World Taekwondo Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, defeating defending champion Carlos Sansores of Mexico in the men’s over-87kg heavyweight division.

Cissé’s motto is “never give up“.

Mali returns to the pitch

Mali has waited 20 years to return to the Olympic football competition, and qualified by beating Guinea in a play-off match at the U23 Africa Cup of Nations in 2023.

Twenty years after competing in the Athens Olympics, where they reached the quarter-finals, Mali’s Eagles of Hope are back in the Olympic limelight.

Coach Alou Badra Diallo told Fifa his objective was “to do better than our quarter-final finish at Athens 2004. I believe they (Mali) are capable of achieving great things.”