Published on : 05/08/2021 – 06:52Modified : 05/08/2021 – 07:08
Burkina Faso holds the first medal in its history. Triple jumper Hugues-Fabrice Zango won bronze on Thursday, becoming a legend for his country and the Olympic Games.
Some bronze medals taste like gold. The one won Thursday August 5 by Hugues-Fabrice Zango in triple jump is one of them. By stepping onto the podium in the athletics event, the Burkinabè won the very first Olympic medal in the history of his country.
Indeed, since 1972 and its first participation in the Munich Games, Burkina Faso had never obtained a medal. In Tokyo, the West African country sent seven athletes but hopes for Olympic glory rested largely on its jumper flag bearer, Hugues-Fabrice Zango.
“It is a great pride precisely to be the first to have brought back a medal for Burkina Faso. I wanted to bring back the most beautiful metal for my country and for myself. Unfortunately, it fell on the bronze”, he reacted to RFI’s microphone. “But it remains a beautiful thing for Burkina because we are making history in these Olympic Games and we are opening the counter for future generations.”
Man of records
The Burkinabè, who now lives and trains in Béthune, in the north of France, arrived launched on these Olympic Games. In January, he broke the world indoor record in his discipline (18.07 m). In early July, he set himself the African outdoor record (17.82 m).
The path to the medal was a bit chaotic. The Burkinabè was scared in qualifying, snatching up with the 11th and last qualifying score at 16.83m, tied with Frenchman Melvin Raffin.
“I went ‘to luck’, but it’s a good thing,” explained Hugues-Fabrice Zango at the end of the competition in the Voix du Nord. “I fell into the trap of qualifying. 17.05 m (the minimum required) is more or less easy and we tend to relax in these cases. In the final I will be released and we will send the gas . “
However, true to his nickname Jiren, a character from the Dragon Ball manga embodying calm and power, Hugues-Fabrice Zango did not panic. If he did not come close to his personal best, his third jump, at 17 m 47, was enough to allow him to grab the podium. He finished behind the Portuguese Pedro Pichardo (17.98 m) and the Chinese Zhu Yaming (17.57 m).
“I have just followed from start to finish the magnificent performance of our great champion Hugues-Fabrice Zango who gives Burkina Faso its first Olympic medal. Thank you Hugues for this bronze medal. We are all proud of you”, immediately greeted the President of Burkina Faso, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré.
In Burkina Faso, Hugues-Fabrice Zango was already the equal of the best footballers in the country, like Charles Kaboré or the Traoré brothers, in terms of popularity. There is no doubt that it surpasses them now.
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