Six Early African Highlights From the 2024 Paralympics in Paris

Ethiopia’s 1,500m queens reign supreme

In Tokyo, Paralympic runner Tigist Mengistu won the first Paralympic gold medal for Ethiopia in the women’s 1,500m T13. Mengistu followed that feat by successfully defending her title, which has now opened the gates for more medals for her country at the Paris Games. About 48 hours later, fellow Ethiopian Paralympic runner Yayesh Gate Tesfaw won the women’s 1,500m T11 gold medal in stunning fashion, smashing the world record she set at the World Championships in Kobe, Japan by about four seconds.

“I knew I had the world record already and I am happy to break it again. I needed to do it again,” Tesfaw said. “It means even more to do it here, in the Paralympic arena and at the Paralympic Games of Paris 2024.”

Tunisia’s throwing queen makes it five in a row

Raoua Tlili’s Paralympic exploits will be revered for generations to come. Competing in her fifth games, the “Throwing Queen” came in as the overwhelming favorite in the women’s shot put F41, and she triumphed for a fifth straight time. “This medal is the most important medal because it’s not easy for me,” she said. “To be able to throw in the shot put, you need a lot of energy and lots of strength training, especially for (those with) short stature.” This takes her Paralympic gold medal tally to seven.

Currently, Tunisia sits atop the African medal table at the Paris Games with seven medals in total — three gold, three silver, and one bronze.

A first badminton medal for Nigeria and Africa at the Paralympics/Olympics

Despite a niggling ankle injury a month before the games, Mariam Eniola Bolaji powered through in the women’s Paralympic badminton SL13 bronze medal match. Bolaji defeated Ukraine’s Oksana Kozyna in straight sets to become the first Nigerian and African to win a medal in Badminton at either the Paralympics or the Olympics. A former Paralympic tennis player, Bolaji switched on the advice of her former coach Bello Oyebanji, who died in a car accident shortly before the Tokyo games. “My late coach was the one that brought me through, he trained me and encouraged me,” she said after her win. “The medal is dedicated to him. He would be very, very happy and would be saying ‘I’m proud of you.’”

Skander Athmani keeps setting new records

Coming off setting a new 400m T13 world record at this year’s World Championships in Kobe, Skander Djamil Athmani was poised for more success in Paris. At Sunday’s 100m T13 final, Athman not only won gold, he did it in remarkable fashion by setting a new Paralympics record with a race time of 10.42 seconds. After a phenomenal debut in Tokyo, where he barely missed out on 100m T13 gold by 0.01 seconds, Athman has his sights set on the double, as he will definitely look to defend his 400m T13 Paralympic title.

In terms of gold medals at the Paris games, Athmani follows the lead of fellow Algerian Nassima Saifi, who won gold in the women’s discus throw F57 event last weekend.

Mpumelelo Mhlongo puts South Africa on the medal board in blistering fashion

After over four days without a medal, versatile para track and field star Mpumelelo Mhlongo put South Africa on the medal table of the 2024 Paralympics. Mhlongo entered the men’s 100m T44 final as the favorite, and he lived up to the billing with a dominant race where he led from the beginning to the end. It has set the tone not just for the rest of the South African contingent — Louzanne Coetzee won the women’s 1,500m T11 bronze medal — but also for Mhlongo himself, as he’s still vying for medals in the T44 200m and men’s long jump T64.

Lahja Ishitile ends Namibia’s brief Paralympics medal dry spell

After a productive outing at Rio in 2016, where the Namibian contingent pulled a haul of five medals, it failed to snag any medals in Tokyo. At this year’s games, Lahja Ishitile has ensured a better outing, winning gold in the women’s 400m T11. At last year’s World Championships, she won silver, a feat that has now been built upon and upgraded. This makes her just the third Namibian Paralympic athlete to win a Paralympic gold medal.