With 285 days to go until the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Benin is still without a confirmed athlete for this major sporting event. While Benin’s ambassadors have been taking part in the qualifying competitions since the start of the year, the suspense is still running high.
On the sidelines of qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympics, Beninese athletes have benefited from Olympic scholarships for their preparation. “We have athletes who are holders of this scholarship thanks to the dynamism of Cnos-Ben. There’s Odile Ahouanwanou and Noélie Yarigo in athletics. The other beneficiaries are Celtus Dossou Yovo (judo), Privel Hinkati (rowing), Nafissath Radji (swimming) and Gloriana Nahum (tennis)”, confides Fernando Hessou, General Secretary of Cnos-Ben.
Yarigo and Ahouanwanou still on course
The two Olympics regulars still haven’t got their ticket to Paris 2024. 800m specialist Noélie Yarigo may have put in some impressive performances and set records this year, but she’s still not good enough. The Guéparde de la Pendjari, who clocked 1:59s.43 at the last World Athletics Championships in Budapest, needs to do better to achieve the 1:59s.30 minimum time approved by World Athletics and counting towards qualification.
Odile Ahouanwanou, the reigning double African heptathlon champion, is also eagerly awaited, even if there is some doubt. The number 1 missed this year’s World Championships and then the Francophonie Games in Kinshasa.“For the second time in a row, I won’t be at the World Championships in Budapest this year. Last year in the United States, it was because of the visa. But this year, I’m not physically ready,” she explained in a Facebook post.
What about the other disciplines? In rowing, Privel Hinkati took part in the 2023 World Rowing Championships in Belgrade. He finished 42nd in the world out of 48 and 6th in Africa. He will therefore have to go through the continental regatta. The rower already present at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and the Beninese team will be taking part in the African Championships and African Olympic Qualification Regatta scheduled to be held in Tunis from October 23 to 26, 2023, in a bid to secure places at the Olympic Games. “I’ve prepared as well as I could to secure a qualifying place. I was able to prepare in good conditions thanks to the support of the federation and Cnos-Ben, and I had access to equipment and a coach,” says Privel Hinkati.
Benin could be part of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games thanks to 3×3 basketball. The Cheetahs have made steady progress in this Olympic discipline since the last edition. Currently the second-ranked men’s nation in Africa, Benin will have to wait for the fourth phase of the qualification process. Benin will take part in the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament, which brings together 16 teams. The aim will be to be among the three best-placed NOCs to secure a quota place. Present at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, judoka Celtus Dossou-Yovo in the -100kg category will have to fight hard to secure a third consecutive Olympic qualification. At the last African championships in the discipline, he finished in 7th place, well ahead of his compatriot Valentin Houinato (-81kg) ranked 5th. In terms of narration, 21-year-old Nafissath Radji, who competed in the 50m freestyle in Tokyo, is continuing her preparations for the qualifiers.
Two universality places for Benin
Despite the very restrictive qualification process, the mechanism of the principle of universality of the Olympic Games confers a place in athletics and swimming to Benin in the event of athletes failing to qualify for official competitions. This system is subject to a sine qua non condition, as explained by the Cnos-Ben general secretariat: “In the case of swimming, you have to take part in the most recent world championships organized by the international swimming federation.In athletics, these are generally the best performances in the country.”
