Abdoul Razak Issoufou

Abdoul Razak Issoufou Alfaga (born 26 December 1994) is a Nigerien taekwondo athlete.[1]

Abdoul Razak Issoufou

Issoufou at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Personal information
Birth name	Abdoulrazak Issoufou Alfaga
Nationality	Nigerien
Born	(1994-12-26) 26 December 1994
Height	207 cm (6 ft 9 in)
Weight	98 kg (216 lb)
Medal record Representing  Niger Men’s taekwondo Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro +80 kg World Taekwondo Championships 2017 Muju +87 kg African Games 2015 Brazzaville +87 kg 2019 Rabat +87 kg

When Issoufou was 7, his father forbid him from taking up taekwondo after a cousin died from an injury on this fight. After Issoufou moved to an uncle's home in Togo four years later, he eventually got back into the sport by borrowing a friend's dobok. Eventually Issufou managed to get the support from the International Olympic Committee and train outside Africa, moving to the Taekwondo Competence Center in Friedrichshafen, Germany.[2][3]

A gold medalist at the 2015 African Games, Issoufou later got the silver in the African Olympic Qualifiers, enabling him to represent Niger at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.[4] He was chosen to be the Nigerien flagbearer at the Parade of Nations.[2]

During the taekwondo tournament, Issoufou got all the way to the finals, making him Niger's first medallist since Issake Dabore in the 1972 Summer Olympics. Despite losing the gold to Radik Isayev of Azerbaijan, Issoufou's silver medal was the best result ever by a Nigerien at the Olympic Games.[2] He was the flag bearer for Niger during the closing ceremony.[5]