Benjamin Boukpeti
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||
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| Full name | Benjamin Kudjow Thomas Boukpeti | ||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | Bouk | ||||||||||||
| Nationality |
 Togo,  France
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| Born |
August 4, 1981 Lagny-sur-Marne, France |
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| Residence | Toulouse, France | ||||||||||||
| Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in) | ||||||||||||
| Weight | 76 kg (168 lb) | ||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||
| Country |
Togo
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| Sport | Canoe slalom | ||||||||||||
| Event(s) | K-1 | ||||||||||||
| Coached by | Jean-Jérôme Perrin | ||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||
| Olympic finals |
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Medal record
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Bronze
Benjamin Kudjow Thomas Boukpeti (born August 4, 1981 in Lagny-sur-Marne, France) is a French-born Togolese slalom canoeist who has competed professionally since the mid-2000s. Competing in three Summer Olympics, he won a bronze in the K-1 event at Beijing in 2008. Boukpeti was the first athlete from Togo to win an Olympic medal.
Born in Lagny-sur-Marne, France to a French mother, he holds dual Togolese-French citizenship and chose to represent Togo, the country of his father, in Olympic competition. He began kayaking at age 10. His elder brother Olivier is a member of the French flatwater canoeing team.
Competing in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, he placed fifteenth in the first heat of the Men's K1 Kayak Single to become the first Togolese to reach an Olympic semifinal, but only ranked eighteenth in the semifinal run and did not advance to the final.
In January 2008, Boukpeti placed first at the African Championships.
In the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, Boukpeti led after the semifinal, eventually claiming the Bronze medal in the K1 Kayak Single, the first ever Olympic medal for Togo. After clinching his medal Boukpeti snapped his paddle over his kayak in celebration.
Following his Olympic success, Togolese Olympics fans expressed an interest in meeting him, as he is mostly unknown in Togo, only having visited that nation once, during his childhood.
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Wikipedia