Laraïba Seibou (born 6 December 2000) is a

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...

ese

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

. At 15 years old, she was chosen as one of Benin's wild card entries for 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 ...

and competed in the 50 metre freestyle. Although she came second in her heat with a time of 33.01 seconds, her recorded time meant that she did not advance to the semi-finals.

Early life

Laraiba Gnon Cessy Seibou was born on 6 December 2000 in

2016 Summer Olympics

At 15 years old, Seibou was named in the

contingent for the

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. She flew from New York to join the rest of the team on 3 August. Her travel had been delayed after she had been issued a ticket which stated she was a man, not a woman. This was still ahead of the officials in the delegation, who flew out to Rio three days after her. Out of the six athletes in the team, she was one of two women named; the other being Noélie Yarigo. Since her personal best for the 50 meter freestyle was 37.67 seconds, outside of the "B" qualifying time of 26.17 seconds, she competed in Rio on the basis of a wild card universal spot awarded to Benin. She competed in the women's 50 metre freestyle on 12 August, in the second heat. She finished second with a time of 33.01 seconds, behind the winner,

Anastasiya Tyurina Anastasiya Tyurina (born 27 September 2001) is a Tajikistani swimmer. She competed in the women's 50 metre freestyle event at the 2016 Summer Olympics, finishing 73rd with a time of 31.15 seconds and failing to advance out of the heats. In 2 ...

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

(31.15 seconds). None of the times recorded by any of the swimmers in the heat were fast enough to qualify them for the following round, as qualification was based on times recorded and not the final positions. As such, all the swimmers for the semi-finals were from the ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth heats.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seibou, Laraiba 2000 births Living people Beninese female swimmers Olympic swimmers for Benin Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Place of birth missing (living people)