National Athletics Championships 2024 : Between treat and physical effort

The track and lawn of the General Mathieu Kérékou stadium welcomed from 1st to 03 August Beninese athletes from all parts of Benin. Gathered around the National Athletics Championships 2024, young people have developed good physical abilities, technical and mental to win titles in various events. The Atlantic-Littoral, Borgou-Alibori and Ouémé-Plateau are the best departments in the competition.

The races (sprint, middle distance, fond), the jumps (Length, triple saut, height and perch) and throwing competitions (Javelot, weight and disc…) were the different events on the menu of the National Athletics Championships 2024 from Benin. After the installation of the different delegations and the technical meeting, August 1st, the athletes underwent the first tests on Friday 02 August, in the morning and in the afternoon. As an interlude, there was a rich and attractive opening ceremony hosted by the Army fanfare. The competition continued until Saturday 03 August. It closed with the presentation of medals and trophies reserved for the three best departments of Benin.

In total, 262 athletes including 122 women and 144 men took part in these 2024 National Championships. Seventy-five (75) Qualified Technical Officials of various grades judged their performances during the four competition sessions. During four competition sessions, the athletes focused on their physical efforts, technical and athletic to offer a treat in the true sense of the term to the public through big challenges. U16s (Girls/Boys), Dreals (Girls/Boys), through the U20s ( Girls/Boys) and seniors (Men/Ladies),  athletes forced their destiny to perform. On site, the work carried out by the technicians recruited by the Ministry of Sports and posted in the departments was revealing. Tant, the competition was very close at the level of the different tables dedicated to 78 tests divided into 54 racing events, 12 throwing events and 12 jumping events.

Even foreign athletes (Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria), invited to pull the locals had found grist for the mill. The favorites expected on the podium did not fail to grab the medals. Among others, Odette Sawékoua, Renaud Vignissy, Pitchega Tchétékoua, Sylvain Azonhin…have clearly demonstrated that they still have something to spare.

In the general classification by department after these championships, The Atlantic-Littoral takes the lion’s share with 73 medals (27 Or, 26 Arg, 20 Bron), and therefore comes first, Borgou-Alibori is second with 36 medals (10 Or, 11 Arg, 15 Bron), Ouémé-Plateau takes third place with 20 medals (10 Or, 05 Arg, 05 Bron). These three departments each received a trophy to demonstrate their good participation in this competition..

According to the president of the Beninese Athletics Federation, Viérin Dégon, the best athletes selected at the end of these championships will be retained by the National Technical Directorate to prepare for future events and he adds: <<My impressions are good because the four sessions passed without major incidents.. It's still appreciable. Over the two days we had remarkable performances. This is the work of the National Technical Directorate. But I was able to tell you that there is an athlete who achieved the minimum standards for the junior world championships.>>.

Etienne YEMADJE