The concluding part of our list of Top 12 African Athletes to watch out for at the Rio Olympics, features athletes that have the brightest chances of either smashing the World Record (WR), or bettering their own African Record (AR). Here is our final countdown from Nos. 6 to 1.
6. Murielle Ahouré
Another female sprinter that made our list is none other than Cote D’Ivoire’s sprint queen, Murielle Ahouré who will be carrying the expectations of not just her country, but of the continent as well.
The 28 year-old will be entering the Estádio Olímpico João Havelange in Brazil, as the new African 100m Record holder, after running 10.78s (1.6m/s) at the Star Athletics Pro Meet in Montverde, Florida back in June, which was a World Lead (WL) then.
Her time erased the former African Record of 10.79s held by Blessing Okagbare since 2013, and took 0.03s off her Personal Best (PB) of 10.81s, which was set in London last year.
Not done with breaking Okagbare’s records, Ahouré went on to win her first African 100m title, stopping the clock in a new Championship Record (CR) of 10.99s, thereby erasing the Nigerian’s previous record of 11.00s.
Ahouré will be going to Rio with so much confidence, as her SB/ PB puts her No. 3 on the 2016 World List, which might just be the needed motivation for the Ivorian legend to improve her position from London 2012, where she was 7th, running 11.00s.
There’s the likelihood of Africa’s track queens making the finals in Rio, and one of the budding questions in the mind of athletics faithfuls will be; who’s going to win the continent’s first Olympic medal in the women’s 100m?
