Mali
Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...
an taekwondo practitioner who mainly fights in the lightweight division. Coulibaly represented Mali at the
2016 Summer Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...
in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
flag bearer
A standard-bearer, also known as a colour-bearer or flag-bearer, is a person who bears an emblem known as a standard or military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a ...
World Taekwondo Championships
The World Taekwondo Championship is held every two years by World Taekwondo. In addition to the kyorugi (full contact fighting) Championships, there are also Para World Championships as well as Poomsae and Para Poomsae Championships held every ...
, a
World Taekwondo Grand Prix
The World Taekwondo Grand Prix is a taekwondo competition introduced by the World Taekwondo Federation in 2013 to provide a homogeneous system for qualification to the Olympic taekwondo tournament. It consists of four competitions per year in ea ...
and two
African Games
The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa and the ...
. He has won multiple World Championship medals and multiple medals in African regional competitions.
Competition
Coulibaly's debut at an international sporting competition was at the
2011 World Taekwondo Championships
The 2011 World Taekwondo Championships was the 20th edition of the World Taekwondo Championships, and was held at Gyeongju Indoor Stadium in Gyeongju, South Korea from May 1 to May 6, 2011.
Medal table
Medal summary
Men
Women
Team ranking ...
where he competed in the lightweight competition. His first fight in the competition was in the round of 64, where he beat Sawatvilay Phimmasone of Laos 7–3. He then beat German Mokdad Ounis 4–3 and Mexican Uriel Adriano 15–7 to progress through to the quarterfinals. In his quarterfinal, Coulibaly faced Austrian Manuel Mark and won 9–7. In the semi-final of the competition, Coulibaly fought Alireza Nasr Azadani of Iran. Azadani won the fight nine seven. Therefore, Coulibaly, along with the other loser in the semi-finals, Turk
Rıdvan Baygut
Rıdvan Baygut (born March 3, 1985) is a European champion Turkish taekwondo practitioner competing in the lightweight division. He is tall at .
Having a degree in physical education and sports from the Sakarya University, Baygut is a member o ...
, was awarded a bronze medal. He was Mali's only medalist at the 2011 World Taekwondo Championships. At the
2011 All-Africa Games
The 10th All-Africa Games (), also known as Maputo 2010, took place between September 3–18, 2011 in Maputo, Mozambique. Maputo's hosting marked the third time the Games was held in the southern part of the continent.
Host awarding
In April 20 ...
, Coulibaly won a bronze medal in the −74 kg competition.
Coulibaly then competed in the
2013 World Taekwondo Championships
The 2013 World Taekwondo Championships was the 21st edition of the World Taekwondo Championships, and was held in Puebla (city), Puebla, Mexico from July 15 to July 21, 2013.
Medal table
Medal summary
Men
Women
Team ranking
Men
...
where he reached the round of 32 of the lightweight competition, before losing 8–3 to Russian Albert Gaun. Coulibaly's next major competition was the
2015 World Taekwondo Championships
The 2015 World Taekwondo Championships were the 22nd edition of the World Taekwondo Championships, and were held in Chelyabinsk, Russia from May 12 to May 18, 2015. The decision to award the games to Russia was made in 2013 as they out-voted both ...
where he competed in the
lightweight
Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing (sport), rowing.
Boxing Professional boxing
The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the spor ...
. In the round of 64 he beat Qatari Mohammed Hamooda 10–2. He then won his round of 32 fight 5–1 against Bulgarian Teodor Georgiev before beating Frenchman Torann Maizeroi 5–4 in the round of 16. In the quarterfinals, Coulibaly beat Júlio Ferreira of Portugal 9–5 to progress to the semi-finals. He faced Uzbek Nikita Rafalovich in the semi-final and lost 4–3, and, therefore, won a bronze medal which was Mali's only medal in the championships.
Coulibaly won a bronze medal in the Moscow leg of the
2015 World Taekwondo Grand Prix
The 2015 World Taekwondo Grand Prix was the 3rd edition of the World Taekwondo Grand Prix
The World Taekwondo Grand Prix is a taekwondo competition introduced by the World Taekwondo Federation in 2013 to provide a homogeneous system for qualific ...
in the 80 kg competition. Coulibaly won his first international gold medal at the
2015 African Games
The 11th African Games (), also known as Brazzaville 2015, took place from September 4–19, 2015 in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo. This edition marked the 50th anniversary of the Games, as well as their return to Brazzaville, which hosted t ...
2016 Summer Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
, Brazil, Coulibaly competed in the 80kg competition. He was the eighth seed for the competition, out of 16 athletes. Before the competition started he told
Africanews
Africanews (styled as africanews) is a 24/7 pan-African multilingual news network located in Lyon, France, previously headquartered in Pointe-Noire, Republic of the Congo. The news channel began broadcasting online, and via TV and satellite on ...
that, "“Being young I stopped my studies for this sport, honestly I regretted a lot, but on the other hand, I don’t regret it, because I am one of the best athletes in the world, and for that i don’t have many regrets and i know that my family is proud of me. i am going to continue fighting, I promise to win an Olympic medal and God willing i will do it." For the preliminary round, Coulibaly was drawn against Azerbaijani
Milad Beigi
Milad Beigi Harchegani (, ; born 1 March 1991 in Booshehr) is an Iranian-born naturalized Azerbaijani taekwondo practitioner who won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Beigi won the fight 13–6 and, therefore, Coulibaly was knocked out of the competition. Coulibaly was Mali's
flag bearer
A standard-bearer, also known as a colour-bearer or flag-bearer, is a person who bears an emblem known as a standard or military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a ...