Abdoul Razak Issoufou
Abdoul Razak Issoufou Alfaga (born 26 December 1994) is a Nigerien taekwondo athlete.[1]
 Issoufou at the 2016 Summer Olympics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 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
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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
- "Abdoulrazak Issoufou Alfaga". rio2016.com. Archived from the original on 21 August 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
- 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)
- http://www.taekwondodata.com/issifou-abdoulrazak-alfaga.aiaz.html
- "The Flagbearers for the Rio 2016 Closing Ceremony". 2016-08-21. Retrieved 2016-08-23.
External links
- Abdoul Razak Issoufou at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
| Olympic Games | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Moustapha Abdoulaye Hima |
Flagbearer for  Rio de Janeiro 2016 |
Succeeded by Incumbent |