Tokyo 2021: Claire Ayivon, flag bearer of Togo
Claire Ayivon will be Togo's flag bearer at the Tokyo Olympics.
© Komla Eklu / RFI
Text by: Komla Eklu
4 min
Claire Ayivon, 25, will represent Togo at the Tokyo Olympics in rowing in the women's 2 km single scull event.
Invited to the Rio Olympics in 2016, she fought to snatch her qualification for this edition.
In the Japanese capital, she will be the flag bearer of the Togolese delegation.
Portrait of an athlete who represents the best medal chances of her country.
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It is not easy to be a top athlete in a community where the place reserved for women is at home. Claire Ayivon has experienced this and has come under criticism:
“People say that you are already old to rowing. You continue, what are you going to become afterwards? I love sport, so I continued and I'm still in rowing, ”she
told RFI with a burst of laughter.
She admits that it was by chance that she discovered rowing seven years ago.
“
I am from Togoville
[a locality located on the shores of Lake Togo],
I saw people training on the lake and I decided to do like them. At first, I took it for fun but I ended up developing a taste for it to the point of becoming a
professional
today
. "
Her career, according to Mr. Anani Mensah, secretary general of the Togolese Rowing and Canoe Kayak Federation, is marked by sacrifices: “
At 25, today, the girls are at home. But Claire refused and each time it is pressure from the parents. In fact, it was because of rowing that she stopped studying. She has the BEPC
[Brevet d'études du premier cycle]
. She should continue her studies. But she is always traveling.
"
By dint of courage and self-sacrifice, Claire Ayivon has broken through nationally and internationally.
For his coach, Migué Koffi, it is the result of hard work.
“To gain a second in rowing, you have to do the same exercise for three weeks.
It is a very complicated job.
But as she gave herself completely, we have the results today,
specifies the coach who adds:
currently, her best performance is 8:02 compared to 8:29 last April.
"
Many supporters
Suddenly, many Togolese believe in it. Starting with the president of the Togolese Rowing and Canoe Kayak Federation, Emmanuel Fortuné Adjevi Neglokpe, who welcomes his qualification for the Olympics on October 13, 2019 in Tunis: “
We are very honored because a Federation that to qualify an athlete at a minimum on a test is formidable. Claire
Ayivon
is a very courageous girl. She will represent nearly eight million Togolese at the Olympic Games. We are proud of her for this qualification.
"
On July 5, the director of the Togo National Olympic Academy, Charles Panou, did not hesitate to offer the Togolese athlete a large batch of sports equipment.
“
We want to motivate her.
That is why we opened our store to her so that she can choose whatever she needs and whatever could be useful for her to obtain good results,
”he explains.
It is therefore no coincidence that Claire Ayivon was chosen as standard bearer and that Prime Minister Victoire Tomegah Dogbe personally presented her with the national emblem.
An act whose scope she measures: “
It is a source of pride for me to carry the Togolese flag.
It is a great responsibility to transport all of Togo to the Games.
"
In Tokyo, Claire Ayivon promises to follow in the footsteps of Benjamin Boukpeti who won the first Olympic medal for Togo - a bronze medal.
It was in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics.
"
This is to bring the gold
"
,
she assures, ambitious.
Credited with a time of 8:02 in the 2 km ladies' single scull, while the best times are around 7 minutes, the Togolese champion will have to give everything to win in the Japanese capital.
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