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Marie-Josee Ta Lou's joy knew no bound after Ivory Coast won the AFCON 2023 tournament against Nigeria.
Africa's fastest woman in history, Marie-Josée Ta Lou celebrated her country Ivory Coast for being crowned the AFCON 2023 champions.
Ivory Coast defeated powerhouse Nigeria 2-1 in regulation time to lift the trophy for the third time in the country's history - a feat that has been described by pundits as one of the greatest football fairytale stories.
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23:04 - 11.02.2024
AFCON 2023: Heartbreak! Ivory Coast defeat Nigeria to become African champion for a 3rd time
Ivory Coast's special story at AFCON 2023 came to a fairytale ending after they came from behind to beat Nigeria and win the Cup of Nations.
From qualifying for the knockout stage as one of the best losers and sacking their head coach, The Elephants of Cote d'Ivoire showed they were a cat with 9 lives, producing exceptional performances to reach the final and eventually win the cup.
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In honour of the outstanding success of her countrymen, Ta Lou took to her X page to congratulate the team.
"Otherwise, we think we are the country that we are, there is no debate. IVORIAN AND PROUD," she wrote.
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Then in a follow-up post, the multiple African champion and world medallist declared again:
"Lord, glory to you alone,
Thanks my God,
We are African champions"
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14:03 - 05.10.2023
'My sister Shelly won't let me give up on running' - Ta Lou speaks on sismance with Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
Finding friends turned sisters in a rivalry individual sport as athletics is rare, but not for Marie-Josee Ta Lou and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who have found comfort in each others arms.
Ta Lou, who recently got married to her Trinidadian husband J Smith, is one of the world's best sprinters in history and has been Africa's most dominant and consistent athlete in the past decade.
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The 34-year-old won silver medals in the 100m and 200m events at the 2017 World Championships in London, setting a national record of 22.08s in the 200m. Her 100m best of 10.72s in 2022 is the sixth-fastest in history the African Record.
Ta Lou has made it to the 100m final of every major championship in the past ten years, thus placing her as arguably the greatest African female sprinter in history.
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