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JO-2024: Sedia Sanogo, captain of the women's boxing team of Côte d'Ivoire, the desire to win

03:33

French-Ivorian boxer. © Pierre René-Worms RFI

Text by: Sylvie Koffi

4 mn

Sedia Sanogo, 32, is captain of the Ivorian women's boxing team. She was born and raised in France. But she chose to defend the colors of the country of her ancestors, during the Paris Olympics in 2024. With the aim of developing women's boxing in Côte d'Ivoire.

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In the ring, Sédia Sanogo, already a four-time France champion, deploys herself with grace. All in muscles! She knocks. She knocks. His gaze is fixed. She doesn't give up. She has the rage of the winners... She was not born and has never lived in Côte d'Ivoire, and has chosen to represent the country of her ancestors for the next Olympic Games. A country where women's English boxing is non-existent: "I felt that boxing was dead in Côte d'Ivoire, cowardly Sédia Sanogo, we have a bit of an old-fashioned state of mind, namely that women do not have the right to practice this type of sport still considered a preserve for men.

Boxing is a family affair

Sédia Sanogoa started very early, at the age of 13, at the club of Garges-lès-Gonesse in the northern suburbs of Paris. Her father and sister practiced this sport, but it was with her brother, also a boxer, that she took her first steps. A promising debut in the France team where she became champion of France cadet. The club then offers him to integrate a sports and studies course, but for his parents, it will be a categorical no. Her coach "lets her go in turn". He left France to continue his studies in England: "The coach," she says, "is like a second father, a big brother, a confidant, a best friend. In the ring, you're never alone." She gives up everything. And draws a line under her career, until the day when twelve years later, by the greatest of chances, she comes across her coach in the street. And it will be a new beginning.

Sédia Sanogo likes challenges

Today, Sédia Sanogo is a special education teacher. She accompanies young people followed by child welfare. But she is forced to work to pay for her physical preparation and internships abroad: "The champion in my category is Turkish, so regularly, I go to Istanbul to follow her fights. I am alone, I have no financial support while ahigh-level athlete must be able to traintwice a day. She breathes boxing, she eats boxing, she wakes up and she sleeps "boxing". Despite these difficulties, Sédia Sanogo has the rage to win, she is determined.

Captain of the Ivorian team, his strength is his mind

She is already in another fight. She has only one idea in mind: to offer victory and a medal to Côte d'Ivoire who never had one.

The boxers who are members of the Ivorian national team can be counted on the fingers of one hand. There are five of them. "I have to motivate the troops and I am the only one to instill this team spirit even in the men.... But it's not easy, because I live in France while the rest of the team is in Ivory Coast.

And fighting under the colors of Côte d'Ivoire is also a personal choice, because it was one of the last wishes of my grandmother who wanted to see me box on her land. From where she is, she looks at me, she says proudly, telling herself that her little girl has reconnected with her roots. »

"The strong woman of Africa"

This high-level athlete created LFA: the strong woman of Africa; an association to develop combat sport in Côte d'Ivoire. "For me, sport is a tool. I want to address women, those who have lost confidence in herself, those who are victims of domestic violence... You know, to get in the ring, you have to have confidence in yourself. This is a first step, and I want to accompany these women in their reconstruction. »

Rachid Labdouni, her coach, supports her in her choices

"She is a complete athlete who has enormous talent and incredible abilities, she could have claimed to join the France team, but she made the choice to fight for her country, Côte d'Ivoire and I support her. ", explains his coach Rachid Labdouni.

To get this qualification for the Olympic Games... Sédia Sanogo is ready to make sacrifices... It's difficult, but she doesn't give up. His next fight is scheduled for May in Nigeria.

With the blows, Sédia's long braids came off... The boxer, fists imprisoned in the gloves, can not redo her bun ... Then her coach, with a broad smile, restyled her hair. She catches her breath. She gives everything.

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Read on on the same topics:

• Olympics 2024
• Boxing
• Ivory Coast
• Our selection