Hugues Fabrice Zango (born 25 June 1993) is a Burkinabé

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

who specialises in the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

and the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

. Pending ratification, he is the world indoor record holder in the triple jump with a jump of set in 2021. Zango competed at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Brazil and won the bronze medal at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan in the triple jump event, the first ever Olympic medal for

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...

. He has also competed in

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, two

African athletics championships The African Championships in Athletics is a continental athletics event organized by the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA), the continental association for the sport in Africa. Since its inaugural edition in 1979 it was at first organised ...

, a

Jeux de la Francophonie The Jeux de la Francophonie (Canadian English: ''Francophonie Games''; British English: ''Francophone Games'') are a combination of artistic and sporting events for the Francophonie, mostly French-speaking nations and former colonies of France, ...

, two

Summer Universiade The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

s and two

African Games The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union (AU) with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (A ...

. He became the first-ever medalist for Burkina Faso with a bronze medal and African record at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha.

Competition

Zango's debut at an international athletics competition was at the

2013 Summer Universiade The 2013 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XXVII Summer Universiade (russian: XXVII Летняя Универсиада), was held in the city of Kazan, Russia, the most northerly city ever to host a Summer Universiade. Over 10,400 un ...

, where he competed in the

. In the qualification round his best jump was 15.74 metres, a distance that qualified him for the final. In the final, Zango finished sixth with a jump of 15.96 metres. His jump was 1.05 metres smaller than the jump of gold medalist, Ukrainian Viktor Kuznyetsov, and 61 centimetres smaller than the bronze medalist, Kazakhstani Yevgeniy Ektov. Also in 2013 was the 2013 Jeux de la Francophonie. At the 2013 Jeux de la Francophonie, Zango competed in the

. He jumped 15.97 metres to finished tenth in a twelve-athlete field. Zango's next major competition was the

2015 Summer Universiade ) , Nations participating = 143 , Athletes participating = 12,885 , Events = 272 in 21 sports , Opening ceremony = , Closing ceremony = , Officially opened by = Park Geun-hye , Athlete's Oath = Kim Seong-yeon and Kim Kuk-young , Judge's Oath = K ...

, where he competed in both the

and the

. In the long jump, Zango's best jump was 6.73 metres, a distance that placed him 30th in qualification, out of 36 athletes. He did not qualify for the final. In the triple jump, Zango qualified for the final after jumping a distance of 16.59 metres in the qualification round. In the final, Zango jumped 16.76 metres, a distance that won him the silver medal. Zango's jump was 53 centimetres smaller than the gold-medalist's (Russian Dmitriy Sorokin's) jump of 17.29 metres. Zango jumped the same distance as bronze medalist

Xu Xiaolong Xu Xiaolong ( zh, t=徐小龙, p=Xú Xiǎolóng; born December 20, 1992) is a Chinese triple jumper. He won a bronze medal at the 2015 Summer Universiade in Gwangju, South Korea, and eventually represented his nation China at the 2016 Summer ...

(China) but, as Zango's second best jump was further than Xiaolong's, Zango won the silver medal on count back. Zango was

's only medalist at the 2015 Summer Universiade. Zango competed at the 2015 World Championships in the

. In the competition, all three of his jumps were

fouls Foul may refer to: __NOTOC__ In sports * Foul (sports), an unfair or illegal act during a sports competition, including: ** Foul (association football), in football (soccer) ** Professional foul, in football (soccer) or rugby ** Foul (basketbal ...

and therefore he recorded no mark (NM). Zango then competed in the 2015 African Games. Zango finished fifth in the

with a jump of 16.36 metres. Zango was 19 centimetres behind the bronze medalist, Mamadou Chérif Dia of

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

. At the 2016 African Athletics Championships, Zango won the silver medal in the

. He jumped 16.81 metres, which was 32 centimetres less than the distance jumped by the gold medalist, Nigerian

Tosin Oke Oluwatosin Bamidele “Tosin” Oke (born 1 October 1980 in London, England) is a Nigerian track and field athlete, who competes in the triple jump. Born a dual national, he initially competed for Great Britain. He set the current UK junior indo ...

. Zango jumped four centimetres further than the bronze medalist, Godfrey Khotso Mokoena of South Africa, and 20 centimetres further than the fourth-placed athlete, Mauritian Jonathan Drack.

2016 Summer Olympics

At the

, Zango competed in the

. In the qualification round, Zango jumped 15.99 metres. His jump was the 34th best out of 47 athletes. Zango's jump was 62 centimetres less than the shortest jump by an athlete that qualified for the final, Cuban Lázaro Martínez, and therefore, Zango was eliminated from the competition.

2019 World Championships

Prior to the 2019 World Championships in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

, Burkina Faso's best Athletics World Championship result was 10th place for Franck Zio in the

at the 1995 World Championships in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

. Qualifying for the final in Doha, Zango performed consistently well with 17.46 m in round 2 and 17.56 m in round 5, before setting a new African Record with a distance of 17.66 m in the sixth and final round. With this record, Zango claimed the bronze medal - his (and Burkina Faso's) first at a major championship.

2020 Summer Olympics

In the

, held in 2021, Zango won the bronze medal (and so far the only one for his country in the Olympics) in the men's triple jump with a distance of 17.47 meters. He qualified for the final with a distance of 16.83 meters in the earlier heats. Going into the event, he was ranked fourth in the world and had a personal and season best of 18.07 meters. This was Burkina Faso's first Olympic medal, and Zango earned it on August 5, Burkina's Independence Day.

Indoor world record

On January 16, 2021, in his final attempt jumping at a jumps only indoor meet in Aubière,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, Zango jumped to improve his coach,

Teddy Tamgho Teddy Tamgho (born 15 June 1989) is a French triple jumper and long jumper. He specialises in the triple jump. He is the current triple jump world indoor record holder at 17.92 m, achieved in winning the final and gold medal at the 2011 Europe ...

's Indoor World Record by 15 cm. He became the first world record holder from

and the first African to hold a world record in a jumping event. The jump ranks him the 6th performer in history, indoors or outdoors.

Personal bests

*All information taken from IAAF profile.

Competition record

Personal life

Zango graduated with a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

Electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

, Electrical energy, and

Automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...

from the

University of Artois The University of Artois ( French: ''Université d'Artois'') is a public university situated in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais departments of northern France. It is situated on 5 campuses in Arras, Béthune, Douai, Lens and Liévin. The Univ ...

(

Hauts-de-France Hauts-de-France (; pcd, Heuts-d'Franche; , also ''Upper France'') is the northernmost Regions of France, region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its Prefectu ...

) in 2018, and subsequently he is working on a PhD degree in electrical engineering at the same university.Un nouvel exploit mondial pour Fabrice Zango, doctorant à la FSA !
- website of the

He expects to complete the degree in 2022.

Notes

References

External links