After the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, held in 2021, when Africans won 37 medals, including 11 gold, there are hopes the continent can build on that successes in Paris.
Three years ago, East Africa was the most dominant region, with Kenya and Uganda between them winning more than half of the continent's gold medals. Kenya also took home the most medals overall, with 10, and it's little surprise that it is the most successful African nation in the history of the Summer Games with 113 medals since 1956.
Expect East Africa east to be well represented again, with athletics, particularly middle-distance and long-distance running, seeming most likely to represent Africa's best chance for gold medals in 2024.
Men's 800m
This race features a number of African contenders with their eyes on gold.
Kenyans Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Wyclife Kinyamal cannot be written off, and it will be exciting to see how Slimane Moula of Algeria fares after starring at the Shanghai/Suzhou Diamond League meet in April. But another Algerian is the leading contender.
Djamel Sedjati is the third-fastest man in history over the distance, and he has a point to prove after being unable to compete at Tokyo 2020 after contracting COVID.
Sedjati, 25, comes into the Olympic Games having won at the Monaco Diamond League meet in July, with a world-leading time of 1:41.46, and he'll take some beating in Paris.
Women's 1500m and 5000m
Another stacked field of Africans in the women's 1500m, with Ethiopians Gudaf Tsegay , Diribe Welteji and Birke Haylom among the leading contenders.
Kenya's Faith Kipyegon , 30, is the outstanding favourite, however. The world record holder is looking to claim an unprecedented third consecutive Olympic gold medal, after back-to-back victories in Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo. She is only the second middle-distance runner to retain her Olympic title -- after Tatyana Kazankina in 1980 -- and looks the runner to beat again given she improved her own world record to 3:49.04 at the Paris Diamond League meet in July.
"The Smiling Destroyer" will also compete in the 5000m, at which distance she's the world champion having clinched gold at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Expect Ethiopian competition from Tsegay, Medina Eisa and Ejgayehu Taye, while another Kenyan, Beatrice Chebet, took bronze in Budapest last year.
Men's 10,000m
The 10k, even more than the men's 800m, looks likely to produce an African winner, with a field crammed with the continent's elite track athletes.
Kenya is represented by Benard Kibet and Daniel Mateiko; Ethiopia is likely to be in the hunt through 2020 gold medalist Selemon Barega, Berihu Aregawi, and Yomif Kejelcha; and Uganda boasts one to watch in Jacob Kiplimo .
Uganda's Joshua Cheptegei is the clear favourite, though, given his world-record time of 26:11.00 hasn't been bettered in almost four years.
A gold medalist in the 5000m in Tokyo, don't be surprised if Cheptegei adds to his collection over the longer distance in Paris.
Women's 10,000m
Chebet might miss out to Kenyan compatriot Kipyegon in the 5000m, but she has another opportunity to make the podium in the 10k -- in which event her tussle with Ethiopian-born Dutch runner Sifan Hassan could be a duel to watch.
Chebet is the world record holder , having registered a time of 28:54.14 at the 2024 Prefontaine Classic in Eugene two months ago to become the first woman to run 10k in under 29 minutes.
Beyond Hassan, Chebet's nearest challenger might be Tsegay of Ethiopia, who pushed her close during the world-record race. Fellow Kenyans Lilian Kasait Rengeruk and Margaret Kipkemboi will also be in contention.
Men's 3000m steeplechase
Ethiopians might fall short in the 10k, but they will fancy their chances of winning the 3km steeplechase, adding to the one gold medal won in Tokyo by Barega (10,000m).
Lamecha Girma is the runner to beat, primed to go one better than the silver he claimed in Tokyo having won the 5000m and 3000m steeplechase at the Diamond League meets in Xiamen and Stockholm respectively this year.
Girma also set a world indoor hurdles record -- in Paris -- in February last year before breaking the outdoors record four months later.
Morocco's Soufiane El Bakkali, who defeated Girma for gold in Tokyo, enjoys an increasingly storied rivalry with his Ethiopian opponent, and again looks to leading contender in Paris.
Women's 3000m steeplechase
Beatrice Chepkoech is yet another Kenyan racing to ensure the East African nation finishes atop the continental medal chart, and she will be desperate for a strong Olympics after a miserable outing in Tokyo.
Three years ago, she sought to battle through the pain barrier and ignore injury niggles, having been encouraged to do so by her manager, but ultimately under-performed; she finished seventh in the steeplechase as her body let her down.
The progress she had made in the previous years -- she's held the world record since 2018 -- may not have been realised in 2021, but she now has the opportunity to make amends.
Sembo Almayew of Ethiopia will be among her closest competitors.
Men's Marathon
The marathons should be special events, with runners set to enjoy some of Paris's most beautiful sights as they race from the Hotel de Ville to the Chateau of Versailles before returning to the French capital.
Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge -- a legend of the marathon scene -- is the reigning Olympic champion and favourite to add to his gold medal haul. He's established himself among the greatest marathon runners of all-time, and a third victory, beneath the shadow of Notre Dame, would cap an awesome Olympic career in what appears likely to be his last dance on the grandest stage.
Among the chasing pack, Kipchoge's compatriot Benson Kipruto might be one of his closest challengers.
Women's Marathon
As with the men's event, expect an African victor in the women's marathon.
Hellen Obiri of Kenya is certainly a contender, having won back-to-back Boston Marathons in 2023 and 2024.
However, we're giving the nod to Ethiopia's Tigst Assefa , the world record holder, having clocked 2 hours 11 minutes 53 seconds in Berlin last year.
Assefa was a youth prospect in middle-distance running, and she has adapted far better than expected to life on the road after an ongoing Achilles problem put paid to her track career.
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