Benjamin Boukpeti

Pre-season was very challenging with the African Championships on my continent. Unfortunately, I failed to qualify for the Games there. It was an emotional moment for me due to the context, but I quickly accepted the result as evidence of what my preparation has been the past 3 years.

Despite my inability to qualify to qualify in South Africa, I did really appreciate the support I got from the IOC particularly the Olympic Solidarity, members of the ICF, my own National Olympic Committee, friends and athletes from the Slalom Community. When I got the wild card, it was the cherry on the cake that I could not have imagined. It was much more than I expected for myself.