African Games Performances foretell Brilliance At 2024 Paris Olympics Games
The passion, energy, and thrilling displays of several athletes at the 13th African Games in Ghana left sports lovers and spectators worldwide spellbound at the prowess of the continent's sportsmen and women.
Here are some African athletes to keep tabs on at the 2024 Paris Olympics from 26 July–11 August, who shone at the Accra African Games earlier this year.
Mary Moraa, Kenya's Track & Field Heroine
At 23, Mary Moraa has won almost everything there is to win in her sport in 400 and especially 800 meters. She's amassed gold medals at the U20 African Championships, the Commonwealth Games and World Championships, with her latest acquisition being a gold medal in the Women's 400 meters at the 13th African Games in Ghana.
Add to this enviable collection, a first-place finish at the 2022 World Athletics Diamond League; as well as silver and bronze medals in the youth and senior world Championships. But for all her incredible achievements, an Olympic gold is yet to be placed in Moraa's medal cabinet. Her maiden participation at the previous Olympics in Tokyo didn't end with glory, but for Moraa this was an indispensable lesson on her ascension to the firmament of her sport.
At the 13th African Games, Mary Moraa displayed her superlative form, clocking 50.57 secs as she completed the 400-meter race to pick up her maiden gold medal. The "Dancing Queen" as Moraa is nicknamed, has shifted her focus to the Paris Olympics where she hopes to lead the podium in 400 & 800 meters.
Sara Samir Ahmed, Egypt’s Flag bearer And Gold Merchant
Sara Samir Ahmed is only 26 but has had an illustrious career, accumulating the laurels of an accomplished athlete. She is a world-class weightlifter with an impressive medal collection and an insatiable quest for winning gold medals in global sporting bonanzas.
Egypt’s pioneer gold medallist at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China in 2014 aged 16, Sara Samir Ahmed has gone on to clinch medals in the World Championships, Mediterranean Games, World Youth and World Junior Championships.
Her talent was once again witnessed by many at the 2023 African Games in Accra, Ghana where she did a clean sweep, picking up all 3 gold medals available for grabs and providing a foretaste of what fans could expect at the Paris Olympics.
Having missed a gold medal by a whisker at the 2016 Rio Olympics, settling for bronze, Sara Samir Ahmed now looks forward to adding Olympic gold to her medal cabinet. Having been named flag bearer by Egypt’s Olympic Committee, Sara Samir Ahmed is hopeful that she’ll be able to lift her weight through to an Olympic gold and gladden the hearts of Egyptian fans.
Cameroon’s Emmanuel Esseme, Environmental Engineer Excelling On Tracks
With great energy, Emmanuel Esseme Alobwede talks about preserving the environment and fostering sustainable development. The environmental engineer becomes even more passionate when he begins a discourse about athletics, especially the 100-meter category.
Three years ago, Esseme who turns 31 on 17 August 2024, was at the Tokyo Olympics, failing to go past the first round, but since then, the 1.84 meters tall sprinter has blossomed into an exciting runner, making a name for himself and shattering records.
With a 10.04 seconds finish, Esseme picked up gold in 100 meters at the 2023 Francophonie Games, having previously established a similar feat at the 2022 Islamic Solidarity Games where he finished first in the 200 meters. A gold medal at the 13th African Games courtesy of a 10.14secs finish in the 100 meters has further granted Esseme's Paris medal hopes legitimacy.
With Cameroon having failed to win a medal at the Olympics since 2012, the Central Africans will be hoping their 100-meter star can rise to the occasion and sprint to a podium finish.
Roumaysa Boualam, Trailblazer from Algeria.
Roumaysa Boualam’s entertaining style of boxing does the talking for her in the ring. A boxing star nearing legend status on the continent, she's celebrated in Algeria for being the country's first female boxer to compete at the Olympics when she debuted in the 2020 event in Tokyo.
A two-time gold medallist in the 2019 & 2023 African Games, again repeating this feat in the African Championships, and a gold medallist in the Arab and Mediterranean Games, Boualam now aged 29, hopes to become her country's first woman to clinch a medal in boxing at the Olympics. Boualem who will compete in the Women's Flyweight, is an astute boxer. Having garnered sufficient experience and silverware in the last 3 years, she hopes to lay her hands on the Paris Olympics' coveted medals to further ink her name on the annals of her country's sports books.
Burkina Faso's Hugues Fabrice Zango, Leaping Like A Stallion.
Hugues Fabrice Zango has an incredible medal collection. It contains medals of different colours from different competitions, but conspicuous amongst them are the many gold medals won in the triple jump in the World Championships, World Indoor Championships, African Games, African Championships, and Francophonie Games.
Aged 30, Zango epitomizes Burkina Faso and Africa's sporting greatness. A world indoor record holder in the triple jump with a jump of 18.07 m established in 2021, the reigning world champion clinched a gold medal in the triple jump at the 2023 World Championships. The Burkinabe has previously tasted Olympic glory at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with a 17.47 leap in the triple jump securing him a bronze medal.
But whether with his education where he's demonstrated an innate ability to thrive, backing a PhD in electrical engineering in 2023, Zango wants to be the world's best and motivate younger Africans. An Olympic gold medal in Paris is within Zango's reach and after recently becoming Burkina Faso's first athlete to be decorated with the country's highest honorary distinction - Officer of the Order of the Stallion, the athlete is consumed with the insatiable quest of becoming Burkina Faso's first gold medallist at the Olympics.
Tobi Amusan, Nigeria's Super Falcon Soaring Above Expectations.
27-year-old Tobi Amusan is a mercurial athlete who soared above challenges and expectations, winning gold at the African Championships, World Championships, African Games and Commonwealth Games. Add to that two incredible Diamond League titles won in 2021 and 2022, Tobi Amusan is in a league of her own. Her latest medal addition is a gold medal in women's 100 meters clinched in Accra at the 13th African Games.
Tobi has used her 4th place finish at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as fuel to fire up her desire for a spot on the podium at the Paris Olympics. The "Tobi Express" as the Nigerian sprinter is christened knows a medal at the Olympics will cement her legacy as a talented athlete and a born winner.
