Kenya ended the Tokyo Olympic Games in apotheosis yesterday, finishing first country in Africa and 19th in the general classification. (…) With no less than 10 medals - four gold, three silver and three bronze. (…) The legendary Eliud Kipchoge cemented his legend as the greatest marathoner of all time, crowning his performance in the streets of Sapporo by retaining his title on the last day of competition. 

The Nation

Kenya missed the boat in the men's 3,000 m steeplechase, an event it had won in every edition since the 1968 Mexico Olympics, with the exception of the 1976 Games. and 1980 that he boycotted. A collective cloud of sadness fell on the country,

The Nation again, when the Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkali won the gold medal in this 3,000 m steeplechase.

 the colossal efforts made over the years have not been in vain," declared Soufiane El Bakkali.

After an honorable fourth place at the Rio Olympics in 2016, a silver medal at the London Worlds in 2017 and bronze at the Doha Worlds in 2019, gold, therefore, in Japan.

Everyone was hoping for this title, continued the 25-year-old Moroccan Olympic champion, claiming to share his joy with all the Moroccan people.

My career and my performances will not end there.

I aspire to win other titles, especially at the next Worlds and the Paris Olympics in 2024.

Thank you Hugues Fabrice Zango, you are the worthy son and the pride of Burkina Faso!

So could be summed up,

the slogans shouted or flocked on the T-shirts of hundreds of Burkinabè, officials, parents, friends and supporters, who gave a warm welcome to the Burkinabè delegation which took part in the Tokyo Olympics.

And within this team of Olympic ambassadors from the Land of Integral Men, who returned to the fold, on this Sunday night, therefore figured Hugues Fabrice Zango,

WakatSéra, which gave the country its first Olympic medal. This award, the Burkinabè triple jumper, who carried on his frail shoulders the hope of a whole nation, took it out of his guts, in a final whose debut had hardly smiled on him. He even came close to disaster in his first two attempts, before exploding with joy a whole people who will never forget the sleepless night of August 5, to follow on the small screen the exploits of the one who represented their last hope.

Africans, who collected 11 gold medals in Tokyo, one more than in Brazil, will Africans shine more than usual in the shade? of the Eiffel Tower in three years?

In the meantime, while Kenya, the highest ranked African nation of the 29th + masked + edition of the Olympics, Covid-19 obliges, relishes its 19th place and has its 10 medals including 4 in gold, Burkina Faso is celebrating its first , bronze with a gold value, brought back to him by Hugues Fabrice Zango, at the end of the effort.

 29 refugee athletes, including ten Africans from Cameroon, Congo, Eritrea, DR Congo, Sudan and South Sudan, took part in the Tokyo Olympics

Jeune Afrique

who had taken advantage of the Commonwealth Games in 2014, organized in Glasgow in Scotland, to slip away.