2024-07-18 12:00:26
The Olympic Games are a sporting achievement, a career goal, but they can also be seen as a prize for fundraising. African athletes share their experiences with us.
Ruth Gbabi, the Taekwondo champion, participated in her first Games in Rio in 2016. She brought back bronze to the Ivory Coast. He then made a triumphant return to the country. « Before that, I was just in the national team. Already after the London Games, the bonuses received are high. After this, I saw that the Ministry of Sports wants to find me, let’s say, to help me so that I can prepare well. », Witness the Ivorian athlete. He has confidence, he said.
« After the Rio Olympics in 2016, after my Olympic medal, I got support from the state. So since 2017, the Government has supported me so that I can study in good conditions here in Spain. It changed a lot. In my case, it allowed me to be focused, to think only about the training, the process ”, explained Ruth Gbagbi.
Hortense Diédhiou is a Senegalese judo hero. Having qualified several times for the Olympic Games, he is also able to benefit from the enthusiasm that this special event creates. ” [Après] My return from Athens, after my Olympic years, there is much visibility, which must be accepted, remember the athlete who stopped competing to give himself up his preparatory work in Senegal. And then a lot of attention and appreciation of the population, either in Senegal or in France, where I live. From certain authorities too. You are tall. I hope that every athlete can experience these good conditions. »
Executives who are committed, lack the luster of sponsors
However, on the financial side, the motivation was not there or sometimes it did not match his needs, he testified that: ” We try to ask for support before the games. We have no support. Support is available right after the Games or a few days before the Games. And then you forget. As the Olympiad came, his name began to grow again in the media or in the authorities. He also asked for help, it didn’t happen. Before, it was done in a way that is not always enough for an elite athlete who has his physio needs, his medical needs, his food and logistics and everything. »
Hortense Diédhiou also remembers, with a touch of anger, the attitude of the sponsors: ” They were happy when there was a medal that fell to us and said “Can we quickly take a photo with you? Can we give you this?” No, you have to give it well before. »
In general, athletes regret measures that are always individual and do not allow the emergence of generations of high athletes.
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