African athletes to watch out for at Paris Olympics

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.

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.

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.

South African swimmer Smith

South African breaststroke champion Tatjana Smith (née Shoenmaker) won gold in the 200m breaststroke in Tokyo 2020, beating the world 200m record in 2 minutes and 18.95 seconds.

Smith also took silver in the 100m breaststroke, and laid down a new world record of 1 minute 4.82 seconds during the preliminaries.

She competes in both distances in Paris and expectations are high she’ll go home with a medal. Credit: rfi

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