Abdoul Razak Issoufou

Abdoul Razak Issoufou
Issoufou at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Personal information
Birth name Abdoulrazak Issoufou Alfaga
Nationality Nigerien
Born (1994-12-26) 26 December 1994
Height 207 cm (6 ft 9 in)
Weight 98 kg (216 lb)
Medal record
Representing  Niger
Men’s taekwondo
Olympic Games
2016 Rio de Janeiro+80 kg
World Taekwondo Championships
2017 Muju +87kg
African Games
2015 Brazzaville +87kg

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]

References

  1. ↑ "Abdoulrazak Issoufou Alfaga". rio2016.com. Archived from the original on 21 August 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Pai proibiu atleta do país mais pobre do mundo de lutar, mas ele foi e levou medalha no Rio-16, ESPN Brasil (in Portuguese)
  3. ↑ Taekwondo: le Nigérien Issoufou Alfaga Abdoulrazak se bat pour les JO (in French)
  4. ↑ http://www.taekwondodata.com/issifou-abdoulrazak-alfaga.aiaz.html
  5. ↑ "The Flagbearers for the Rio 2016 Closing Ceremony". 2016-08-21. Retrieved 2016-08-23.
Olympic Games
Preceded by
Moustapha Abdoulaye Hima		 Flagbearer for  Niger
Rio de Janeiro 2016		 Succeeded by
Incumbent


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