Tirunesh Dibaba: At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, the Ethiopian successfully defended her 10,000m title with a powerful performance within the final 600m, winning in a time of 30:20.75. It made her the first woman to win consecutive Olympic 10,000m titles.

Chad le Clos: South Africa’s most decorated Olympian achieved one of the Games’ greatest upsets at the 2012 London Olympics, beating the great Michael Phelps in the 200m butterfly and ending his decade-long unbeaten streak. Le Clos was third going into the final lap but swam the race of his life to take gold.

David Rudisha: Holder of the legendary men’s 800m record, which has stood the test of time since the London 2012 Olympics, when the great Kenyan raced from the front to win one of the most epic races in history. This was the first—and still only—time anyone had run under 1 minute and 41 seconds, with Rudisha crossing the finish line in 1:40.91.

Nour El Sherbini: Born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1995, El Sherbini burst onto the scene in her early teens, quickly establishing herself as one of squash’s brightest talents. She made history in 2015 when she became the youngest-ever woman to be crowned World No.1 at just 20 years old.

Eliud Kipchoge: The only Kenyan to represent his nation at five Olympic Games. From his Olympic bronze as a teenager at Athens 2004 to his double marathon gold at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 in 2021, he cemented himself as one of the greatest marathoners in history.

Wayde van Niekerk: The South African’s world-record run from lane eight at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics remains the greatest 400m race of all time. He wiped out the world record held by American great Michael Johnson since 1999, earning him a place in Olympic history with a phenomenal time of 43.03 seconds.

Springboks: South Africa’s rugby team held off England to win the World Cup in Japan in 2019 and then repeated the feat four years later with much the same team at the tournament in France, eliminating the hosts in the last eight and edging New Zealand in the final.

Morocco: The Atlas Lions became the first African side to reach the final four at the World Cup when they overcame the likes of Belgium, Portugal, and Spain en route to the semi-final in Qatar in 2022. In the 2026 finals, they were also the best African performers with a quarter-final appearance.

Ons Jabeur: Tunisia’s tennis star broke new ground for Arab women by reaching three Grand Slam finals; at Wimbledon in both 2022 and 2023 and at the 2022 U.S. Open.

Joel Embiid: The Cameroonian was named the NBA Most Valuable Player for the 2022-23 season as the Philadelphia 76ers center averaged 33.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game while securing his second straight scoring title.

Faith Kipyegon: The Kenyan established herself in 2023 as one of the greatest ever 1,500m runners, becoming the only female athlete to win both the 1,500m and 5,000m at the same World Championships. It was her third 1,500m world title; she also won in 2017 and 2022. In a stunning year, she set three world records in 49 days—the 1,500m, Mile, and 5,000m.

Barbra Banda: The Zambian goal machine became the second-most expensive women’s footballer in the world in 2024 when American club Orlando Pride paid China’s Shanghai Shengli $740,000 in a bold statement of Banda’s worth. She is Africa’s all-time top scorer in Olympic football history, having scored three hat-tricks at two Games.

Proteas: South Africa won cricket’s World Test Championship at Lord’s last year, fighting their way back from a significant first innings deficit to beat the much-fancied Australia by five wickets, with Aiden Markram proving the match hero.

Sabastian Sawe: The Kenyan’s new world record of 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds, set in London inApril, was a giant leap in marathon running. His average pace over his last five kilometers would have been enough to take victory in the London Olympics’ 10,000m race in 2012, won by Britain’s Mo Farah.

Cape Verde: The island nation became the third-smallest country by population to qualify for the World Cup but did not rest on their laurels as they reached the 2026 finals in North America, holding eventual winners Spain to a draw in their first fixture and then tying with two-time winners Uruguay. In the last-32, they took defending champions Argentina to extra time before succumbing.