World record holder Zango has the hopes of Burkina Faso on his shoulders at Tokyo Olympics

Zango aiming for first Olympic medal for Burkina Faso

JOHANNESBURG, July 20 (ANA) – Burkina Faso have never won a medal at the Olympics, but that could be about to change as world record holder Hugues Fabrice Zango heads to Tokyo as the favourite in the men’s triple jump.

The 28-year-old holds the world indoor record of 18.07m, which he set in January in Aubiere, France. He smashed the previous mark by a massive 15cm, and therefore much will be expected of Zango in Tokyo.

“Everybody in Burkina Faso dreams of this Olympic medal,” Zango told World Athletics. “This is one of the only chances we have to get a medal, maybe for 20 years, so I have to do it now. I have no choice. For me, it’s a mission.

“For me, jumping 18.50m is not a problem. If I need to jump 18.50m to win the Olympic gold, I think I’m able to do it. My body is healthy, my mind is open, and I think I can explore really great, great things.”

Zango started out in athletics at the age of 17, as a sprinter. He was spotted during a local 100m street race in Burkina Faso by an athletics coach, who persuaded the teenager to try his hand at the triple jump. Once he was taught proper technique, all Zango could muster was a jump of 12 metres.

Having been told the best in the world do around 17 metres, it seemed like an impossible feat to the young Zango.

A year of training followed for Zango, and he made massive strides with a distance of 15.89m which was a national record at Under-20 level. In 2016, Zango jumped 16.81m to qualify for the Rio Olympics. In Rio, however, Zango was clearly not ready for the highest stage and was eliminated in the first round.

Since 2018, Zango has been working with French triple jump great Teddy Tamgho (the previous world indoor record holder), and the partnership has yielded massive gains.

“When I joined his team, everything changed for me,” says Zango. “We started working differently from before. He (teaches) me mentally, strategically, (how) to win a medal in championships. It’s not only physical, we need a mental ability to produce a result and he really drove me a lot (on) this side.”

“I really worked on my weakness and improved my strengths. This is why I’m able to be more confident today about the Olympics.”

The rise of Zango has not been meteoric, but steady – and graduating to Olympic gold medallist will be the natural progression for one supremely talented athlete from Burkina Faso. – African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Michael Sherman