Alpha Amadou Sy Savané (born 16 May 1974) is a Guinean sprinter. He competed in the men's 200 metres and

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Summer Olympics, Olympic Sport of athletics, athletics programme since 1900 Summer Olympics, 1900 for men and since 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 for women. On a ...

at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

and the

at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. Sy Savané first competed at the

1991 World Championships in Athletics The 3rd World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan between August 23 and September 1. 1517 athletes from 167 countries partic ...

in the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

, where he was seeded in the second heat but was ultimately disqualified. At the

, Sy Savané qualified in both the

and the flat

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

, with both first-round heats scheduled on the same day. He ran 21.86 seconds in the 200 m and 54.26 seconds in the 400 m hurdles, placing 7th in his heat in both events and failing to advance. Sy Savané ran the 400 m hurdles again at the 1994 Francophone Games, placing 6th in his heat and failing to advance. Sy Savané won his first international medal at the 1995 West African Athletics Championships in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

. Entered in the 400 m, he ran 47.87 seconds to win the bronze medal. In September 1995, Sy Savané participated in the

1995 All-Africa Games The 6th All-Africa Games, also known as Harare 1995, were played from 13 to 23 September 1995 in Harare, Zimbabwe. 46 countries participated in eighteen sports. South Africa, having previously been banned from competition by the other African ...

. He ran 47.60 seconds in the flat 400 m, outside of the medals but setting the Guinean record in the discipline. He returned to the Olympics for the 1996 Atlanta Games, this time entered only in the 400 m hurdles. Sy Savane ran 50.90 seconds to place 7th in his quarter-final and did not advance to the semi-finals. At a May 1998 meeting in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Sy Savané set his personal best of 50.81 seconds in the 400 m hurdles. His time still stands as the Guinean national record over the event.

Personal life

Amadou Sy Savané coaches his son Abdoul Sy Savané, who won the 2023 New Balance Nationals Indoor championships in the

60 metres hurdles 60 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling which is generally run in indoor competitions. It is equivalent with the first 5 hurdles of a standard outdoor hurdle race. The current women's and men's world records are 7.65 seconds (Devynne Ch ...

. Representing Atlanta Zoom Athletics in

, Abdoul's winning time of 7.59 seconds was the #4 in United States high school history. His elder brother, Mohamed Malal Sy Savané (born 30 September 1968), is a middle-distance runner who competed in the men's 800 metres and

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilomet ...

at the

; he set Guinean national records in both events, running 1:51.80 to place 5th in his 800 m heat and 3:51.96 for 9th in his 1500 m heat. He had previously set the

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship-level events. The ...

Guinean record of 32:27.5 at a June 1989 competition in

Conakry Conakry ( , ; ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its population as of the 2014 Guinea census was 1,660,973. The current population of C ...

and also competed at the 1989 World University Games, finishing 9th in his 1500 m heat, and at the 1994 Francophone Games, finishing 4th in the 800m semi-final.
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References

1974 births Living people Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Guinean male sprinters Guinean male hurdlers Olympic athletes for Guinea Place of birth missing (living people) Track and field athletes from Atlanta Guinean expatriate sportspeople in the United States {{Guinea-athletics-bio-stub