After winning 13 gold medals during the Olympic Games in Paris earlier this month, African athletes will again return to competition to represent the continent during the Paralympics. Ahead of the Games, which begin with an opening ceremony on August 28, ESPN highlights nine African athletes with fascinating backstories set to compete in Paris.
Raoua Tlili – Tunisia
Whatever happens to Tlili in Paris, her reputation as Tunisia’s “throwing queen” is cemented.
Shone in the F41 division for athletes of lesser build, she is the best discus thrower and shot putter that the nation of North Africa has ever produced.
Tlili presently owns the world records in both categories and has six gold medals from the Beijing 2008 Olympics and the previous four Paralympic Games.
She has stated her intention to continue motivating women in her home country throughout the Games, and at 34, she will be strongly favored to win more medals in Paris.
“The message I send to Tunisian women, Arab women, and women in general is to believe in their abilities and potential, and to try to turn weakness into strength, no matter the field they excel in,” she stated prior to the tournament.
“Here is an example: ‘Raoua, who is disabled, challenged the obstacles of disability and achieved good results.'”
Lauritta Onye – Nigeria
Sticking with the shot-putting theme, there won’t be too many bigger characters than Onye competing in Paris, with the Nigerian also having featured in Nollywood films in her homeland.
Standing at 4’1, Onye will compete in the F40 event – separate from Tlili – having benefited from a 2012 tweak in the rules that separated athletes of a small stature into separate classifications to preserve a level playing field.
She will also have her eyes on gold, having won the event at the Rio de Janeiro Games eight years ago, where her astonishing eight-metre throw established a new world record.
On that occasion, Onye charmed supporters with a cart-wheeling celebration, bubbling over with joy; will she get the opportunity to show off her dance moves again in Paris?
Brahim Guendouz – Algeria
Guendouz has already made history as a pioneer for para-canoeing in North Africa. Never previously had an Algerian claimed a medal in the sport before Guendouz took bronze in the 200m event at the World Paralympics Championships in Duisburg in 2023, while he also took silver at the African Championships in Abuja.
Guendouz competes in the KL3 class, meaning that participants have to struggle with the absence of a lower limb or moderately impaired movement in one of their legs.
The 25-year-old has previously declared his aim to reach the podium in France, and now has the chance to prolong his medal-winning streak on the largest platform of all.
Kat Swanepoel – South Africa
South Africa are taking 26 athletes to the Paralympics, and while there’s no place for Ntando Mahlangu as he continues his recovery from a car accident, Team SA will still fancy their chances of making the podium.
One contender could be swimmer Swanepoel, who’s returning to the Paralympics after previously participating in Tokyo.
She’s progressed immensely in the sport in recent years, notably setting an African record in the 150m individual medley event at the World Para Swimming Championships last year.
Swanepoel was diagnosed with Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis – a neurogenerative disease with impacts the brain’s ability to control the body – during her healthcare studies, and competes despite being paralysed from the waist down and blind in one eye.
She’s previously represented the Rainbow Nation at wheelchair rugby and basketball, but her participation in Paris is in danger of being overshadowed by a reclassification before the Games – meaning she will be competing against “people who have more physical function” than she does.
Her determination and tenacity have served her well in the past, and South Africa’s flag-bearer will be hoping that her unswerving inner strength can push her to glory again.
Noemi Alphonse – Mauritius
Set to compete in the women’s T54 events, for wheelchair track athletes who are without legs or who have affected movement in the legs, Alphonse has raised the game for African athletes in recent years.
Known as the ‘Lioness of the Tracks’, she became a world champion earlier this year when she clinched gold in the 100m at the Kobe Para Athletics Championship in Japan, finishing 0.11 seconds ahead of Chinese competitor Zhaoqian Zhou.
Alphonse has grown in prominence during the preceding years, and a year ago, at the same event in Paris, she took silver in the 100m and bronze in the 400m, while also breaking records at a continental level.
A pioneer for Mauritian athletes – she’s the first to compete in the final of a Paralympic event – and has raised the profile of the sport in her homeland.
“There’s no secret to this success,” she told the local media. “There are many sacrifices to make, but we must remain motivated and determined.”
Sherif Osman – Egypt
One of several bona fide legends to be competing at the Games, the Egyptian power-lifter is looking to add a fourth gold medal to his honours haul as he approaches his fifth Paralympics.
Aiming to bounce back strongly after falling short – and ‘only’ taking silver in Tokyo – the 41-year-old will be a genuine contender for gold in Paris.
This time he should be injury-free – a muscle rupture prevented him from truly being at his best three years ago – and the world record holder will be determined to reassert his dominance in the 56kg class.
As well as his feats of strength, Osman has a certain style, class and panache in his approach to the sport, particularly in the way he engages with the bar ahead of him and psyches himself up before competing.
Expect a new swathe of fans to be enthralled by his unique approach to power lifting over the weeks to coming.
Christiana and Kayode Alabi – Nigeria
Table tennis at the Paralympics may be one of Nigeria’s best chances to win a medal, with talented competitors in both the women’s and men’s divisions hoping to take on the best in the world. Among them are husband-and-wife team Kayode and Christiana Alabi, who won a silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The couple met at a national trials event in 2017 and hit it off right away. Table tennis is obviously a big part of their daily routine; they train together twice a day, and they will now be the first married African paralympic couple to compete at the Games.
Husnah Kukundakwe – Uganda
One of several competitors on this list coming back for more after previously making headlines at a Paralympics, Kukundakwe competed at Tokyo three years ago aged 14 and a half, the youngest competitor at the last Games.
On that occasion, she participated in the SB8 100m breaststroke – the classification denoting that competitors have the partial absence of one limb or the ability to use only one arm or leg – and will take part in three separate events this time around.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Kukundakwe described swimming as being – for her – a “escape from the world” and from the shyness that characterized her infancy due to a congenital limb disability of her right arm.
The Ugandan said swimming and having to undress in front of people helped her “learn to feel more confident with myself and stop listening to the whispers.” She had worn baggy garments to hide her arm at school.
The 17-year-old, who already had a strong desire to support people with disabilities in her native country, founded the Kukundakwe Foundation to increase accessibility in the sports industry.
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