by Deji Ogeyingbo
Deji Ogeyingbo always finds amazing athletes to interview. In this interview, he speaks with Fabrice Zango, Burkina Faso’s first Olympic medalist (bronze), and the African champion at the Triple Jump. Fabrice is coached in France by Teddy Tamgo, the 2013 World Champion at the TJ, and former world indoor record holder (Fabrice now has that record).
Interview with Fabrice Zango, Africa’s Triple Jump Champion!
The last year has been magnificent for Burkina Faso’s Huges Fabrice Zango. After becoming the first man to win an Olympic medal for his country when he clinched bronze in Tokyo, the Triple Jumper has gone in to defend his African title in Mauritius.
Zango hasn’t set fireworks on the men’s Triple Jump this year, but his win in Mauritius will surely serve as a springboard to build towards Eugene. At the Diamond League meeting in Paris, the reached a season’s best of 17.25m, a mark that puts him seventh in the world rankings.
He, however, has set his sights fixed on winning Gold at the upcoming World Championships in Eugene while also potentially breaking Jonathan Edwards’ World Record before the next Olympics in Paris.
RunblogRun: You are on an elite list of top triple jumpers in the world: yourself, Pedro Pichardo, and Christian Taylor. How excited are you about that, and do you hope to eventually surpass them and their exploits?
Fabrice Zango: Of course, my objective this year is to be first because in the past two years or three years I was in the top three, top four, so it’s good but it’s not what I want for Africa. Africa has to be the first. You see Pichardo, and Taylor are good friends ─because, in the triple jump, we are all friends─ but I want to beat them to put Africa at the top of this event.
RunblogRun: Let’s talk about your coach. He’s had so much influence on you, you are in France with him. Can you give us insight into how training goes with him? What’s the motivation behind wanting to even surpass what he did as an Athlete?
Fabrice Zango: Of course, you see with my coach we are always making some games at every competition. We have an objective to achieve so every time he tells me, ‘Yeah you jump 18 but you did not jump 18 at the world champs!’ You see, I want to beat what my coach did: he did 18.04 I did 18.07, But I did it at a meeting, but he did it at a major championship, so now I want to do 18m at a major championship and then I will be okay. My coach helps me a lot with some good advice because he did many great championships.
RunblogRun: Tell us about the moment you go home to Burkina Faso after winning the Bronze at the Tokyo Olympic games, how you felt all through, and how you hope to pave the way for other younger athletes who want to become like you.
Fabrice Zango: It’s crazy you see when I was in Burkina Faso after my Olympic bronze it was a crazy moment since the airport, they just bring me, I did not float the ground. You see, it was crazy and they just picked me to the bus it was a crazy moment and I have lots of memory in my head it’s crazy.
In my country, I try to develop as many athletes as I can because it’s one of our biggest sports in Burkina Faso, so it’s important to develop it. We have many young athletes that try to contact my former coach as well as the athletic federation to start doing things around the sport. Also, I try to reach out to the Ministry of Sports to start doing some things like giving scholarships to help the young athlete to develop their talents. So, this is really good and I’m happy about that.
RunblogRun: The world champs are later next month and there’s also Paris in 2024 what would be your target; is it a gold medal or a World record? What’s on the top of your mind?
Fabrice Zango: I have many targets in my mind. So, first, for the world championship at Eugene, my target is to be a gold medalist because you see, I already got a bronze. Normally you have to pass by silver, but I’m a jumper, so I have to jump silver and go straight to gold medalist, so I want this for this year and for the next year’s ─like for Paris─,
I hope I will do the world record of Jonathan Edwards before Paris because at the championship it’s quite hard to have a world record, so I hope I will do the world record, and then I will be really free and I will go to Paris to play.
RunblogRun: The world record by Jonathan Edwards has been standing as far back as 1995, can you break it at the world championships in Eugene, at least then you can get $100,000 in addition to the $60,000 for winning Gold.
Fabrice Zango: It will be a bit difficult (to break the world record at the World Championships) because you feel a lot of pressure. Sometimes in Championships, the most important thing is not the performance, but winning a medal. There I try to manage the situation with the other guys, but in meetings, it’s less pressure and we go there for more performance.
RunblogRun: Which to you is more important, Gold at the World Championships this year or next or Gold at the Olympic Games in Paris?
Fabrice Zango: Smiles—Gold in Eugene this year, Gold in Budapest next year, and Gold in Paris in 2024.
