Sport in Burkina Faso is widespread and includes football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from t ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

, handball,

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

, and martial arts.Marchais, p.102Oxfam

Football

Football is very popular in Burkina Faso, played both professionally and informally in towns and villages across the country. The

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

is nicknamed "Les Etalons" ("the Stallions") in reference to the legendary horse of Princess

Yennenga Yennenga was a legendary princess, considered the mother of the Mossi people of Burkina Faso. She was a famous warrior precious for her father, Naa Gbewaa or Nedega, the founder of the kingdom of Dagbon, now in present day Ghana. But the princess ...

. In 1998, Burkina Faso hosted the African Cup of Nations for which the Omnisport Stadium in

Bobo-Dioulasso Bobo-Dioulasso is a city in Burkina Faso with a population of 904,920 (); it is the second-largest city in the country, after Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso's capital. The name means "home of the Bobo-Dioula". The local Bobo-speaking population (r ...

was built.Gleeson

Basketball

Basketball is one of the top sports in Burkina Faso for both men and women. Its

had its best year in 2013 when it qualified for the AfroBasket, the continent's most prestigious basketball event.

Baseball

The sports of Baseball and Softball are becoming extremely popular in Burkina Faso. Fédération Burkinabè de Baseball et de Softball – FBBS is the controlling body. Baseball Burkina Faso is ranked 4th in Africa following the 2019 Baseball Africa Cup. Burkina Faso's Sanfo Lassina plays professional baseball for the

Kochi Fighting Dogs Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of Ke ...

in the Japanese professional league.

Rugby union

Rugby union, or just rugby, in Burkina Faso is relatively new, but growing more popular every year. Rugby was introduced by the French, who had ruled Burkina Faso, or Upper Volta, as it was known at the time, for many years. Rugby in Burkina Faso is, like many other nations in Africa, centered around the capital,

Ouagadougou Ouagadougou ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Burkina Faso and the administrative, communications, cultural, and economic centre of the nation. It is also the country's largest city, with a population of 2,415,266 in 2019. The city's ...

Cycling

Cycling is widespread both as a sport and as a cheap means of transport. The

Tour du Faso The Tour du Faso is a 10-day road bicycle racing stage race held in Burkina Faso in the late fall. The race is organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation, which also organises the Tour de France, and since 2005, the race has been part of the UCI ...

, approved by the Fédération internationale de cyclisme, is a cycling event held annually in November that covers . The stage race takes place at temperatures up to 40 °C. It has been part of the

UCI Africa Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, th ...

since 2005.

Strongman

Even though strongman is a small and growing sport, one man in Burkina Faso is pushing the sport of Strongman in the international scene. Iron Biby, or Cheick Sanou is the current log lift world record holder and axel press world record holder, known for his backflips, and world’s strongest shoulders. The sport of Strongman is really in safe hands with him in Burkina Faso.

Olympic Games

Burkina Faso has sent athletes to every Summer Olympic Games held since 1988. Under its previous name of Upper Volta, the country also competed in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

Hugues Fabrice Zango Hugues Fabrice Zango (born 25 June 1993) is a Burkinabé athlete who specialises in the triple jump and the long jump. Pending ratification, he is the world indoor record holder in the triple jump with a jump of set in 2021. Zango competed at t ...

won Burkina Faso's first ever Olympic medal when he won bronze in the men's triple jump at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

. No athletes from Burkina Faso have competed in any

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

References

Sources

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