Abdoul Razak Issoufou
 Issoufou at the 2016 Summer Olympics | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Abdoulrazak Issoufou Alfaga |
| Nationality | Nigerien |
| Born | 26 December 1994 |
| Height | 207 cm (6 ft 9 in) |
| Weight | 98 kg (216 lb) |
Medal record | |
Abdoul Razak Issoufou Alfaga (born 26 December 1994) is a Nigerien taekwondo athlete.[1]
When Issoufou was 7, his father forbid him from taking up taekwondo after a cousin died from an injury on this fight. After Issoufou moved to an uncle's home in Togo four years later, he eventually got back into the sport by borrowing a friend's dobok. Eventually Issufou managed to get the support from the International Olympic Committee and train outside Africa, moving to the Taekwondo Competence Center in Friedrichshafen, Germany.[2][3]
A gold medalist at the 2015 African Games, Issoufou later got the silver in the African Olympic Qualifiers, enabling him to represent Niger at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.[4] He was chosen to be the Nigerien flagbearer at the Parade of Nations.[2]
During the taekwondo tournament, Issoufou got all the way to the finals, making him Niger's first medallist since Issake Dabore in the 1972 Summer Olympics. Despite losing the gold to Radik Isayev of Azerbaijan, Issoufou's silver medal was the best result ever by a Nigerien at the Olympic Games.[2] He was the flag bearer for Niger during the closing ceremony.[5]
At the 2021 African Taekwondo Championships held in Dakar, Senegal, he won the gold medal in the men's +87 kg event.[6][7]
He competed in the men's +80 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[8]
References[]
- ^ "Abdoulrazak Issoufou Alfaga". rio2016.com. Archived from the original on 21 August 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
- ^ a b c Pai proibiu atleta do país mais pobre do mundo de lutar, mas ele foi e levou medalha no Rio-16, ESPN Brasil (in Portuguese)
- ^ Taekwondo: le Nigérien Issoufou Alfaga Abdoulrazak se bat pour les JO (in French)
- ^ "TaekwondoData". TaekwondoData. Retrieved 2020-09-27.
- ^ "The Flagbearers for the Rio 2016 Closing Ceremony". 2016-08-21. Retrieved 2016-08-23.
- ^ "2021 African Taekwondo Championships Medalists – Day 1 – June 5" (PDF). Martial Arts Registration Online. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 June 2021. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
- ^ Palmer, Dan (8 June 2021). "Olympic champion Cissé among winners at African Taekwondo Championships in Dakar". InsideTheGames.biz. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
- ^ "Taekwondo ISSOUFOU ALFAGA Abdoul Razak - Tokyo 2020 Olympics". .. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
External links[]
- Abdoul Razak Issoufou at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
- Abdoul Razak Issoufou at TaekwondoData.com
- Abdoul Razak Issoufou at Olympics.com
- Abdoul Razak Issoufou at Olympedia
- 1994 births
- Living people
- Nigerien male taekwondo practitioners
- Nigerien expatriates in Germany
- Olympic taekwondo practitioners of Niger
- Taekwondo practitioners at the 2016 Summer Olympics
- Olympic silver medalists for Niger
- Olympic medalists in taekwondo
- Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
- African Games gold medalists for Niger
- African Games medalists in taekwondo
- Competitors at the 2015 African Games
- Competitors at the 2019 African Games
- World Taekwondo Championships medalists
- Taekwondo practitioners at the 2020 Summer Olympics
- African Taekwondo Championships medalists
- Nigerien sportspeople stubs
- African taekwondo biography stubs