10 African Olympians with incredible backstories - Ex-beauty queen to Africa's fastest man
As the 2024 Paris Olympics gets into full swing and the medals start flowing, ESPN puts the spotlight on some African athletes you may never have heard of.
From the Lesotho beauty queen turned taekwondo star, to the triple jumper with a doctorate in electrical engineering, here are 10 African Olympians with fascinating backstories.
Former Miss Lesotho: Michelle Tau
Can former beauty queen and Paris flag-bearer Michelle Tau secure a first-ever medal for Lesotho when she competes in Taekwondo? Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Once upon a time, Lesotho's Tau, the daughter of one of the country's taekwondo greats, appeared destined for a very different path.
In 2017, she won the Face of Lesotho competition and subsequently represented the country in a global pageant -- finishing 2nd Runner Up at the 'Face of Beauty International' showcase in India.
However, while flag-bearer Tau excelled at beauty pageants, it wasn't long before her other passion took over, as she began to follow in her father's footsteps.
The 27-year-old soon became a dominant force in the local taekwondo circuit, making the podium at the African Games of 2019 and 2023, and subsequently qualifying for Paris after missing out on Tokyo.
Tiny Lesotho have never won an Olympic medal before... could Tau end the wait?
Africa's fastest man? Letsile Tebogo
Botswana's Letsile Tebogo is a big medal hope in Paris, competing against the likes of the USA's Noah Lyles. David Ramos/Getty Images
To avid followers of athletics, Tebogo is already a familiar face. For more casual Olympic fans, Paris should be an ideal opportunity to get to know Africa's fastest man.
Set to complete in the men's 100m - and making his Olympic debut - Tebogo had aspirations of being a footballer earlier in life, only for injuries to refocus his attentions to short-distance running.
In recent years, the 21-year-old sprinter has been establishing himself as a star of youth competition - he took gold (100m) and silver (200m) at the World U-20 Championship in Kenya three years ago, and set new speed records at youth level for Africa.
At the World Athletics Championships in Budapest last year, he took silver in the 100m - the first African ever to take a medal in this event - and will now hope to keep the pressure on USA's 100m favourite Noah Lyles in the Games' showpiece race.
Botswana are by no means an Olympic heavyweight - they've only ever won two medals at the Games - but Tebogo could be set to change all that come the 100m final on August 4.
A cycling pioneer: Biniam Girmay
Eritrea's Biniam Girmay made history at this year's Tour de France, becoming the first Black African to win a stage. Tim de Waele/Getty Images
A household name for cycling fans since this year's Tour de France, Eritrea's Girmay has already made history this summer in becoming the first Black cyclist to win a stage of Le Tour.
In fact, Girmay completed three stages in first place, and also won the green jersey for finishing atop the overall points classification, becoming the first African cyclist ever to do so.
In the immediate aftermath of the Tour de France, he announced his intention to follow up that historic success with Olympic glory, but competition will be fierce if he's to bring home the gold in either the road race or the time trial.
Born in Eritrea, the 24-year-old left the Horn of Africa for Switzerland in his teens to advance his training, although his wife and daughter still live back in his homeland.
Cycling is more than anything': Eyeru Tesfoam Gebru
One of numerous inspiring individuals to be representing the Refugee Olympic Team at the Summer Games, Ethiopia's Gebru received refugee status in 2022 after leaving her homeland during the Tigray War.
Cycling had previously given her opportunities outside Europe, and it was her call-up to the 2021 UCI Road World Championships in Belgium that gave her passage to escape the conflict.
Life in France, a country where she didn't speak the language, was not easy, but being able to cycle again - a sport in which she'd found solace as a teenager - helped her to rebuild her life away from Ethiopia.
"Cycling for me is more than anything else," she told the official Olympics channel. "I stopped cycling for more than two years.
"Things weren't okay but thinking and dreaming was my biggest strength to overcome the hard times and it was like my therapy."
Gebru was also selected as an Olympic torch bearer for the Normandy department of Calvados.
The electrical engineer: Hugues Fabrice Zango
Hugues Fabrice Zango from Burkina Faso won gold in the Triple Jump at the 2024 World Athletics Championships in Glasgow. MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
One of Africa's breakout stars of the Tokyo Olympics, Zango made history for Burkina Faso when he became the first athlete from the West African nation to win a medal at the Games.
Back then, amidst injury problems, he clinched bronze in his favoured triple jump, and after winning gold at the World Athletics Championship last year, there's genuine hope that he can finish first this time around.
He's also enjoyed recent success in the world indoor championships - winning gold less than five months ago - and may never have a better chance to repeat that achievement at the Olympics.
The 31-year-old was born in Ouagadougou and last year completed his PhD in electric engineering from the University of Artois in France's northern region.
"When I am in my laboratory, I'm a student so I just focus on doing experiments," he told BBC Sport earlier this year. "Then after, at 4pm, I start changing. I start being an athlete and don't talk about equations."
Two-sport Olympians: Racheal Nachula and Kabange Mupopo
It's an unconventional recruitment strategy, perhaps, but two former Olympic sprinters have been recast as international footballers during the recent rise of Zambia's Copper Queens, with both becoming two-sport Olympians at the current Games.
Both were former competitors in women's athletics, with Nachula reaching the semifinals of the women's 400m in Beijing in 2008, while Mupopo matched that in the same event eight years later in Rio.
Nachula later converted to football, her first love as a child, and made her debut for the national side in 2017. However, after missing the cut for Zambia's squad for Tokyo, she finally became a two-sport Olympian by featuring in Sunday's 6-5 thriller against Australia.
China-based Mupopo had already made her bow for the Copper Queens before tackling the 400m in Rio, and after juggling both sports - while also taking on a mentoring role with the She-polopolo when she was unable to take to the field herself - she became a two-time Olympian by featuring in Zambia's opening 3-0 defeat by the United States.
The southern Africans can still progress to the knockouts if they beat Germany in their final group game on July 31 and overhaul an inferior goal difference.
The student, back for more: Anass Essayi
Like a few others on this list, middle-distance runner Essayi was considered something of a prodigy at youth level, and notably, even qualified for the 1500m event at the Tokyo Olympics while still a student.
Indeed, the young Moroccan was preparing for his exams in Business Administration at Al Akhawayn University, Ifrane, when he was selected to serve his country at the Games.
A star of the Youth Games in Buenos Aires six years ago, Essayi ultimately failed to progress from the heats in Tokyo, finishing with a time of 3:45:92.
Since then, as well as moving to study at the University of South Carolina, he bettered his time - registering a personal best of 3:34:58 in 2021 - and will need to register something similar if the student is going to progress in Paris.
The spectre of injury: Samuel Tefera
Like Essayi, Tefera was recognised as one of Africa's wonderkids of middle-distance running, having become the world indoor champion in the 1500m at just 18, back in 2018.
Less than a year later, he set a world record at the indoor event in Birmingham, and had appeared primed to be a medal contender at the Tokyo Games. Then injury intervened.
Injuries cost him at the World Championships in 2019, when he failed to finish, and his Olympic dreams in Japan were also ended prematurely when fitness problems prevented him from progressing past the heats.
It was as though the rug was pulled from beneath Tefera's feet, although he did rebound in some style at the World Indoor Championships two years ago, taking gold.
With his injury problems now behind him, can the Ethiopian realise the promise of youth when Round 1 begins on August 2?
The policewoman who holds a world record: Beatrice Chebet
Last year, Kenyan long-distance runner Chebet -- nicknamed 'The Smiling Assassin' in her homeland -- became one of several prominent athletes in the country to officially complete their training to join the police force.
In January, along with 100m-hopeful Ferdinand Omanyala, she passed out from the National Police Training College to become an official serving constable in Nyeri County in Kenya's central region.
Since then, Chebet has, predictably, been dominant in the Police Cross Country Championships, while also juggling her focus at the elite end of women's long-distance running.
A gold medallist in the 5000m at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham two years ago, she followed that up with silver then bronze at the World Athletics Championships in 2022 and 2023, but has made no secret of her ultimate desire to win at Paris 2024.
Chebet is also the current world-record holder in the 10000m, and this event offers her another potential route to gold.
Source: ESPN Africa
