Sandrine Thiébaud-Kangni
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Sandrine Carmen Genevieve Thiébaud-Kangni |
| Nationality |
 Togo
|
| Born |
21 April 1976 Sucy-en-Brie, France |
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in) |
| Weight | 65 kg (143 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event(s) | Sprint, heptathlon |
| Club | Saint-Denis Émotion Athletisme (FRA) |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal best(s) |
400 m: 52.50 s (2003) Heptathlon: 5,079 points (2010) |
Sandrine Carmen Genevieve Thiébaud-Kangni (born April 21, 1976 in Sucy-en-Brie, France) is a French-born Togolese sprinter and heptathlete. She is a two-time Olympian and a multiple-time national record holder for the sprint and heptathlon. She is also the daughter of middle-distance runner Roger Kangni, who competed in the 800 metres at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.
Since 2001, Kangni holds a dual French-Togolese citizenship, and chose to represent her father's birthplace Togo at numerous sporting events, including the Olympic games. She first competed at the 2002 African Athletics Championships in Radès, Tunisia, where she attained a semi-final finish in the women's 400 metres. The following year, Kangni reached her breakthrough season by breaking both a national record and a personal best of 52.50 seconds at the 2003 IAAF World Championships in Saint-Denis, France.
Kangni followed her father's footsteps by competing for the women's 400 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. She finished sixth in the fifth heat of the event by two hundredths of a second (0.02) behind Jamaica's Allison Beckford, with a time of 52.85 seconds.
At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Kangni competed again for the second time in the 400 metres. She ran in the seventh and final heat against six other athletes, including Jamaica's Shericka Williams, who eventually won the silver medal in the final. She finished the race in seventh place by five seconds ahead of Swaziland's Temalangeni Dlamini, outside her personal best of 54.16. Kangni, however, failed to advance into the semi-finals, as she placed forty-fifth overall, and was ranked farther below three mandatory slots for the next round. Following her elimination from the heats, Kangni announced that the Olympic games in Beijing was a "great feast for the sport", and also, represented the culmination of her career.
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