Abdoul Razak Issoufou

Abdoul Razak Issoufou Alfaga (born 26 December 1994) is a Nigerien taekwondo athlete.[1]

Abdoul Razak Issoufou
Issoufou at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Personal information
Birth nameAbdoulrazak Issoufou Alfaga
NationalityNigerien
Born (1994-12-26) 26 December 1994
Height207 cm (6 ft 9 in)
Weight98 kg (216 lb)
Medal record
Representing  Niger
Men’s taekwondo
Olympic Games
2016 Rio de Janeiro+80 kg
World Taekwondo Championships
2017 Muju +87 kg
African Championships
2021 Dakar +87 kg
African Games
2015 Brazzaville +87 kg
2019 Rabat +87 kg

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]

At the 2021 African Taekwondo Championships held in Dakar, Senegal, he won the gold medal in the men's +87 kg event.[6][7]

He competed in the men's +80 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[8]

References
  1. "Abdoulrazak Issoufou Alfaga". rio2016.com. Archived from the original on 21 August 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  2. 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. "TaekwondoData". TaekwondoData. Retrieved 2020-09-27.
  5. "The Flagbearers for the Rio 2016 Closing Ceremony". 2016-08-21. Retrieved 2016-08-23.
  6. "2021 African Taekwondo Championships Medalists – Day 1 – June 5" (PDF). Martial Arts Registration Online. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 June 2021. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  7. Palmer, Dan (8 June 2021). "Olympic champion Cissé among winners at African Taekwondo Championships in Dakar". InsideTheGames.biz. Retrieved 12 September 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. "Taekwondo ISSOUFOU ALFAGA Abdoul Razak - Tokyo 2020 Olympics". .. Archived from the original on 2021-07-21. Retrieved 2021-08-15.


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