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The years 2010 are coming to an end. This is an opportunity for rfi.fr to look at the African athletes who have marked their discipline, even sport in general, during the past decade.
YAYA TOURÉ (FOOTBALL)
If the 2000s were those of Samuel Eto'o and Didier Drogba, Yaya Touré, he reigned over part of the following decade. The midfielder has been voted best African player four times in a row (2011 to 2014) before leading Côte d'Ivoire to coronation at CAN 2015. Less popular than the two aforementioned attackers, the Ivorian has none no less impressed the entire planet during his years in Manchester City (England), between 2010 and 2018, thanks to an exceptional technique despite its imposing size.
MOHAMED SALAH (FOOTBALL)
Fantastic with Liverpool (England) since 2017, the Egyptian has become a football superstar and an icon in the Arab world. It was not for nothing that the winger made the front page - a situation quite rare for an athlete - of the prestigious Time magazine. With the Senegalese Sadio Mané, Mohamed Salah is the new ambassador for African football internationally.
RAMY ASHOUR (SQUASH)
Much less known than his compatriot Salah, Ramy Ashour nonetheless embodies Egyptian excellence in squash. The one nicknamed "The Artist" won forty major titles and occupied first place in the world ranking between 2010 and 2013. The three-time world champion definitively dropped his racket in 2019, after having delighted fans of the disciplined. He is already considered one of the best players of all time.
CHAD LE CLOS (SWIMMING)
Few swimmers can claim to have made the cup drink to the king of kings, Michael Phelps. Chad le Clos however succeeded in beating the legendary American in the final of the 200 meter butterfly at the 2012 Olympic Games. The South African also won around twenty medals in major competitions (Olympic Games, World Championships in large and small pools). He has become the best representative of African swimming since the retirement of Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry.
CASTER SEMENYA (ATHLETICS)
It was at the end of the 2000s that the South African was revealed, by crushing the 2009 World Championships over 800 meters. Since then, the hyperandrogenic athlete has experienced many highs - gold medals at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, as well as at the 2011 and 2017 Worlds - and lows. The international athletics federation (IAAF) has in particular launched, in recent years, in a legal standoff with the person concerned, to force her to lower her naturally high testosterone level. Caster Semenya has thus become a symbol of the question of gender in sport.
OSCAR PISTORIUS (ATHLETICS)
Oscar Pistorius was also a symbol in the early 2010s, notably by becoming one of the first athletes to compete in both the Paralympic Games and the Olympic Games (2012). “Blade Runner” then experienced a real downfall, following the murder of his partner Reeva Steenkamp in 2013. In November 2017, after multiple judicial twists and turns, the multiple gold medalist was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
DAVID RUDISHA (ATHLETICS)
A phenomenon whose career has been in brackets since the Rio Games. The fault of endless injuries. The Kenyan was double Olympic champion in the 800 meters, double world champion in the double lap, and became record holder of the distance (1 minute, 40 seconds and 91 hundredths). He was named athlete of the year by the renowned magazine Track and Field News , three times in a row (2010. 2011 and 2012). A record he shares with the American Carl Lewis.
ELIUD KIPCHOGE (ATHLETICS)
Records and more regularity than his compatriot David Rudisha. Be aware: the first man to have run the marathon within two hours was already ahead of the legendary Hicham El Gerrouj in the final of the 5,000 meters at the World Championships… 2003. Since then, the Kenyan has mainly distinguished himself outside the stadium, in winning a myriad of marathons and beating in 2018 the discipline record with a time of 2 hours, 1 minute and 39 seconds.
FRANCIS NGANNOU (MMA)
The “King without a crown” of mixed martial arts (MMA) fell on the world of MMA, like a meteor. The Cameroonian however discovered the discipline in 2013 only, at a time when he was homeless, in the streets of Paris. Since then, "The Predator" has become a star in combat sports, despite a defeat for the heavyweight champion belt of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). While waiting for a second chance, the protégé of ex-boxer Mike Tyson goes on spectacular victories, for the greatest delight of the fans. UFC star commentator Joe Rogan called him " the scariest guy of all time ."
JOËL EMBIID (BASKETBALL)
Will the 2020s be those of the Cameroonians? The Philadelphia star continues to claim that the future belongs to his Sixers. However, the 25-year-old pivot has already achieved an immense feat, since 2014. Indeed, we had probably never seen an NBA basketball player completely miss the first two years of his professional career on (serious) injuries and reach despite such an exceptional level of play. This season, Joël Embiid is clearly one of the best players in the prestigious North American league.
Yaya Touré raises the Africa Cup of Nations trophy on February 8, 2015 in Ghana.
KHALED DESOUKI / AFPEgyptian Mohamed Salah scorer in the Champions League final with Liverpool against Tottenham.
GABRIEL BOUYS / AFPThe Egyptian Ramy Ashour.
CHANDAN KHANNA / AFPSouth African swimmer Chad Le Clos.
AFP / ANTHONY WALLACECaster Semenya in the 800 meter semifinal at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
REUTERSThe South African Oscar Pistorius.
REUTERS / David GrayKenyan David Rudisha.
REUTERS / Fadi Al-AssaadKenyan Eliud Kipchoge smashed the marathon world record in Berlin on September 16, 2018. He was elected athlete of the year.
John MacDougall / AFPCameroonian Francis Ngannou did not even have time to sweat before knocking out Cain Velasquez, this February 17, 2019 in Phoenix in the United States.
Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY SportsCameroonian Joël Embiid.
Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports