Naman Keïta (born 9 April 1978 in

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) is a

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

, who takes part in the 400 m hurdles and 4 × 400 m relay, competing internationally for

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. He won the 4 × 400 m relay gold medal at the 2003 World Championships in

. He was the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

ist in the

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

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

Athens, Greece Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. Besides, he won a gold medal and a bronze medal in the 4 × 400 m relay at the

European Athletics Championships The European Athletics Championships is a biennial (from 2010) athletics event organised by the European Athletic Association and is recognised as the elite continental outdoor athletics championships for Europe. Editions First held, for me ...

Personal

Keïta was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

to a

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

an father and an Algerian mother. His hobbies are cooking and jazz music.

Career

Naman Keïta started

running Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion by which humans and other animals move quickly on foot. Running is a gait with an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is in contrast to walkin ...

while in

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

. He worked for six months as a postman, before stopping to focus his energies on the World Championships and Olympic Games. He is able to use a 12 stride pattern between the hurdles. He competed internationally for

until the end of 1999, when he switched his allegiance to

. He finished fourth in the 400 m hurdles final at the

2006 European Athletics Championships The 19th European Athletics Championships were held in Gothenburg, Sweden, between 7 August and 13 August 2006. The competition arena was the Ullevi Stadium and the official motto "Catch the Spirit". Gothenburg also hosted the 1995 World Champions ...

. Keïta tested positive for a prohibited substance (

testosterone Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone and androgen in Male, males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of Male reproductive system, male reproductive tissues such as testicles and prostate, as well as promoting se ...

) while taking part in the 2007 World Athletics Championship in

Osaka, Japan is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third-most populous city in Japan, following the special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a populatio ...

. He was suspended from all competitions for two years by the

Fédération française d'athlétisme The French Athletics Federation (, FFA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics in France. History FFA is the heir to the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA), founded November 20, 1887. In 1912, a French del ...

in October 2007, with the suspension taking effect from 1 Sep 2007.L'EQUIPE.FR Aussi - Naman Keita contrôlé positif

References

External links

* 1978 births Living people French male hurdlers French male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for France Olympic bronze medalists for France French sportspeople of Malian descent French sportspeople of Algerian descent Athletes from Paris Doping cases in athletics French sportspeople in doping cases World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Championships winners 20th-century French sportsmen 21st-century French sportsmen French Athletics Championships winners {{France-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub

Personal

Career

See also

References

External links