Ladji Doucouré (born 28 March 1983) is a French

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete.

Biography

Ladji Doucouré's father and mother were

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 and

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ese respectively. Ladji Doucouré was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and decathlete before specializing in hurdling and sprinting. His cousin Abdoulaye Doucouré is a French-Malian footballer.

Career

Doucouré finished fourth in the 60 m hurdles final at the 2003 World Indoor Championships. He was eliminated in the 110 m hurdles semi-finals of the 2003 World Championships, his debut appearance in a World Championships. Doucouré competed in only one event – the 110 m hurdles – at the 2004 Olympics, his first Olympic Games. He had the fastest time among all the competitors in each of the first two rounds and in the semi-finals. But he finished eighth and last in the final in a time of 13.76 s; he was actually in second place before clipping the last hurdle. Doucouré won the 60 m hurdles gold medal at the 2005 European Indoor Championships, his first European Championships, Olympic Games or World Championships medal at the senior level. At the French Athletics Outdoor Championships held in

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

on 15 July 2005, Doucouré won the 110 m hurdles for the second consecutive year in a time of 12.97 s, setting a new national outdoor record and becoming he first French athlete to go under 13 seconds in that event. It was the world's best performance that year. At the 2005 World Championships, Doucouré won the 110 m hurdles gold medal in a time of 13:07 s, beating 2004 Olympic Champion Liu Xiang by one hundredth of a second and veteran Allen Johnson by three hundredths of a second. He (together with Ronald Pognon, Eddy De Lépine and Lueyi Dovy) also won the gold medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay event at the same championships. He was named the 2005 L'Équipe Champion of Champions (France category) for his outstanding performance on the track that year. Ladji Doucoure 07032009 Turin

Doucouré was eliminated in the 110 m hurdles semi-finals of the 2007 World Championships. Doucouré finished fourth in the final of the 110 m hurdles (his only event) at the 2008 Olympics in

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. The following year, he started strongly by winning the 60 m hurdles gold medal at the 2009 European Indoor Championships. At the 2012 Olympics in

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, he finished last in his semi-final heat of the 110 m hurdles – the only event that he entered – and thus did not qualify for the final.

Results in the finals of international competitions

* Note: Only the position and time in the final are indicated

Track records

As of 15 September 2024, Doucouré holds the following track records for 110 metres hurdles. Performances in red text are wind-assisted.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Doucoure, Ladji 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Juvisy-sur-Orge French sportspeople of Malian descent French decathletes French male hurdlers Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for France French sportspeople of Senegalese descent World Athletics Championships medalists Athletes from Île-de-France World Athletics Championships winners Black French sportspeople French Athletics Championships winners 21st-century French sportsmen