Mbagnick Ndiaye selected for the Tokyo Olympics!

Elite sport
On  January 6, 2021
Mbagnick Ndiaye © International Judo Federation
Mbagnick Ndiaye © International Judo Federation
As a high-level sports student at Université Grenoble Alpes, Mbagnick Ndiaye won for the 2nd consecutive year the title of African judo champion in the over 100kg category. This new title ensures him a qualification for the Olympic Games in Tokyo where he will defend the colors of Senegal.
Winner of the 2019 African Games, reigning African judo champion, Mbagnick Ndiaye continued to multiply the podiums and great performances in 2020. Points won on the tatami and in the world ranking of judokas now open the way for him to the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. "Participating in the Olympic Games is a dream for any sportsman. It is also a pride and an honor to defend the colors of my country."


 

A new continental title and a qualification for the Olympics

As a first-year high-level sports student in the DUT de Carrières juridiques (IUT2) of UGA, Mbagnick Ndiaye approached last December's African championships with full confidence. Reigning champion, he had shone a few weeks earlier in the African Cup. On November 8, 2020 in Cameroon, then on November 15 in Senegal, the judoka, who trains all year round at UGA's "Centre universitaire de formation et d'entraînement de judo" (CUFE Judo), climbed twice on the highest step of the podium.

Photo
Mbagnick Ndiaye and Koffi Koben, with their respective coaches on the national teams of Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire, during the African Cup last November in Dakar.
Ranked 32nd in the world at the end of these two competitions, Mbagnick Ndiaye won again on December 19, 2020 in Antananarivo (Madagascar) during the final of the 41st African Judo Championships: "I am very happy with this performance. It was a much awaited competition and it is a great pleasure to win this title of African champion for the second time in a row". A new title in the category of over 10 kg which allows the judoka of Senegal and UGA to climb to 26th place in the world and to obtain its qualification for the Tokyo Olympics.

Also of note at these 2020 African championships, another UGA judoka Koffi Kobena who came away with 2nd place in the category of less than 100 kg. As a high-level sports student in his second year of the master's degree in Economic Strategies for Sport and Tourism (SEST), Koffi achieved his best international performance and confirms his excellent results in the African Cup. Koffi, who also trains at CUFE Judo, is now ranked 44th in the world.

The adventure and Olympic exploits of UGA students

Mbagnick Ndiaye, who will take part in the 2021 Masters in Doha from 11 to 13 January with the best judokas in the world, joins another high-level student athlete from UGA in his Olympic adventure. A member of the French speed climbing team and a student at a physiotherapy school, Anouck Jaubert qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in April 2020. From Rio in 2016 to Tokyo in 2021, the two UGA champions took over the torch from Bastien Auzeil (athletics), Dorian Coninx (triathlon) and Jordan Pothain (swimming) at the Summer Olympics.

Mbagnick Ndiaye and Anouck Jaubert continue the story of UGA students at the Olympics. A history that, as the capital of the Alps, is written especially in the Winter Games. In 2014, 14 top-level student athletes from UGA took part in the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi and won 5 gold and 2 bronze medals. Four years later, they were 18 students and young graduates at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in PyeongChang, Korea. An Olympiad where they won two Paralympic medals and 6 Olympic medals, representing 40% of the medals of the French delegation.

A success that we wish to the two new UGA students selected for the Olympics. "My coaches are currently working on the preparation program. In the meantime, there will be important competitions to come. We will keep up the pace to achieve further performances (...) with the hope of winning an Olympic medal," says Mbagnick Ndiaye.
Published on  January 13, 2021
Updated on  January 25, 2022