Never has a Burkinabe athlete won a gold medal in the history of the World Championships in Athletics. Hugues Zango (30) filled this void on Monday August 21 in Budapest (Hungary), by settling on the top step of the podium, thanks to a leap of 17.64 m which allowed him to overtake the Cubans Lazaro Martinez (17.41m) and Cristian Napoles (17.40m). He comes back for The world on this historic performance.
Your title of world champion is fresh. What does this award mean to you?
Hugues Zango I’m still on my little cloud. My family was present in Budapest, it was the first time that my parents and my brother came to a big competition to support me. I get a lot of phone calls and messages, even the head of state of Burkina Faso [le capitaine putschiste Ibrahim Traoré] must call me. I am very happy to have won this gold medal, for my prize list of course, but also for my country and for Africa.
I have to go to Burkina at the beginning of September and I expect to receive a very warm welcome. I don’t forget, too, that my country is going through difficult times, that it is fighting against terrorism. I received messages from soldiers who are at the front and who told me that my title had galvanized them.
For several years, you have been one of the best triple jump specialists in the world. Your coronation in Budapest is not a surprise…
No. I had been preparing for this for months, especially during an intensive course in Montpellier in October. In recent years, between bronze at the World Championships in Doha in 2019 and at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, silver in Eugene (USA) at the 2021 World Championships, and gold at the African Championships in Mauritius last year, my performances were very good.
I was going for gold in Budapest. It’s true that the Portuguese Pedro Pichardo, one of my main opponents, was not there, but there was still strong competition, with the Cubans in particular. I was very well prepared physically. Mentally, I was in ideal conditions, and my last indoor and outdoor performances had given me confidence. I jumped 17.64m on my fifth attempt. I know my opponents well, I knew that the Cubans in particular rarely go beyond 17.60 m. And I understood then that it was almost won!
So you are confident for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris?
Today, I’m not thinking about it particularly, but I will obviously prepare them properly, with the gold medal as a normal objective. I’m a bit like the man of the first times in Africa in this discipline. But before that, I will prepare the Diamond League (September 16 and 17 in Eugene, USA), present my thesis by the end of the year [Hugues Zango suit des études de génie électrique à l’université d’Artois à Béthune et est licencié au club Artois Athlétisme]. And also take a real vacation, which I haven’t done in four years. I need it, especially in view of the Games!