August 05, (THEWILL) – For the first time since they started sending their athletes to participate at the Olympics, Burkina Faso finally clinched a medal to celebrate as Hugues Fabrice Zango won bronze in the men’s triple jump event on Thursday with a distance of 17.47 metres.
The gold medal of the event went to Portugal’s Pedro Pichardo for his winning triple jump of 17.98m that was a National Record for the gold medallist, while China’s Zhu Yaming took silver with a Personal Best of 17.57m.
Zango, the African outdoor record holder, leapt a remarkable 17.82m to break his own continental record that won him a bronze at the World Championships two years ago. In his post-victory remarks, the Burkina Faso athlete wished he had a crowd to celebrate the momentous occasion with.
The 28-year-old said: “This is a bit hard for us but I’m on a mission, so I have to do my best to bring back the gold to Burkina Faso. AIl sportspeople like to celebrate victory or accept defeat with the public, but we try to be as professional as we can. We will try to produce our best.”
Zango’s specialising in the triple jump and the long jump has now brought honour to his country with the former while entering his name in the chronicles of the Games to go down in the annals of the competition as the one who brought the country to the medal podium for the first time ever.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
