Kabange Mupopo (born 21 September 1992) is a Zambian sprinter and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player, who won a gold in the 400m at the

2015 All-Africa Games The 11th African Games took place from September 4–19, 2015 in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo. This edition marked the 50th anniversary of the Games, as well as their return to Brazzaville, which hosted the first edition in 1965. Host awar ...

Biography

Mupopo started playing

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

as an 11-year-old, inspired by her brother. She played for

Green Buffaloes F.C. Green Buffaloes Football Club is a Zambia Army-sponsored football team which was founded in 1965 as Zambian Army and later changed to Green Buffaloes FC. Green Buffaloes is one of the most successful club in the history of Zambian football and dom ...

and the

Zambia women's national football team The Zambia women's national football team, nicknamed the Copper Queens, represents Zambia in women's association football. There is also a Zambia women's national under-17 football team, a Zambia women's national under-20 football team, and Oly ...

; as team

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, she led Zambia to the

2014 African Women's Championship The 2014 African Women's Championship, the 11th edition of the tournament, was held in Namibia. This tournament, organized by the Confederation of African Football, was also a qualification tournament for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, with top t ...

tournament, where they were eliminated in the group stage. Mupopo picked up

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

in the spring of 2014, running 53.44 for

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 (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

in her first official meeting. She represented Zambia at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, where she ran 53.09 and was eliminated in the semi-finals. In August, she took silver in 51.21 at the

African Championships An African Championship is a top level international sports competition between African athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships ;Athletics *African Championships in Ath ...

Marrakech Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...

, breaking the Zambian record; she lost the gold to Nigeria's

Folashade Abugan Folashade Abigeal Abugan (born 17 December 1990) is a Nigerian sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres. She was the 400 m bronze medalist at the 2007 All-Africa Games and improved to the silver medal at the 2008 African Championships, ...

, who ran the same time, in a

photo-finish A photo finish occurs in a sporting race when multiple competitors cross the finishing line at nearly the same time. As the naked eye may not be able to determine which of the competitors crossed the line first, a photo or video taken at the finis ...

. Mupopo qualified to represent Africa at the

2014 IAAF Continental Cup The 2014 IAAF Continental Cup was an international track and field sporting event that was held in Marrakech, Morocco, on 13–14 September 2014. It was the second edition of the IAAF Continental Cup since the name and format was changed from t ...

, also in Marrakech, where she placed fourth and improved her national record to 50.87. Mupopo received an 18-month athletics scholarship from the

Zambian Olympic Committee The National Olympic Committee of Zambia (IOC code: ZAM) is the National Olympic Committee representing Zambia. It was created in 1951 as the ''National Olympic Committee of Northern Rhodesia'' and recognised by the IOC in 1963. Zambia made its d ...

in 2015, leading her to concentrate on athletics and not football. Mupopo debuted in the

IAAF Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

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 ...

in May 2015, placing seventh in 51.88. In July 2015 she ran 50.86 in

La Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds () is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometers south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg, it is the fourth largest city loc ...

, improving her national record by one-hundredth of a second. She was selected for the 2015 World Championships in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

References

External links

* 1992 births Living people Zambian female sprinters Zambian women's footballers Zambia women's international footballers Commonwealth Games competitors for Zambia Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Zambia Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Zambia African Games gold medalists for Zambia African Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Women's association football midfielders Sportspeople from Lusaka Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 African Games Olympic female sprinters {{Zambia-athletics-bio-stub