The Most Famous

ATHLETES from Cameroon

This page contains a list of the greatest Cameroonian Athletes. The pantheon dataset contains 6,025 Athletes, 12 of which were born in Cameroon. This makes Cameroon the birth place of the 88th most number of Athletes behind Guatemala, and Singapore.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Cameroonian Athletes of all time. This list of famous Cameroonian Athletes is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Cameroonian Athletes.

1. Joseph Bessala (1941 - 2010)

With an HPI of 55.78, Joseph Bessala is the most famous Cameroonian Athlete. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages on wikipedia.

Joseph Bessala (1 January 1941 – 25 April 2010) was a welterweight boxer from Cameroon.

2. Françoise Mbango Etone (b. 1976)

With an HPI of 50.68, Françoise Mbango Etone is the 2nd most famous Cameroonian Athlete. Her biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Françoise Mbango Etone (born 14 April 1976 in Yaoundé) is a Cameroonian-born female former track and field athlete. She has competed internationally for France since 2010. While competing for Cameroon, Etone was a 2-time Olympic gold medalist in the triple jump at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece and 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. She held the Olympic record for triple jump which she set with a distance of 15.39 m at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. The 15.39 m is the third longest women's triple jump in history under any conditions. Only 25 women have ever jumped 15 metres, Etone jumped beyond 15 metres on 7 of her last 11 attempts in the Olympic final alone. Etone was also a talented long jumper who finished second at the African Championships in 1999. Etone was the first female athlete representing Cameroon to win medals at the Commonwealth Games, World Championships and Olympic Games. She has been a scholarship holder with the Olympic Solidarity program since November 2002. During the 2005–06 academic year, she lived in New York City on a scholarship to attend St. John's University in Queens, New York. The scholarship was made possible through the collaboration of the American electricity company AES Sonel along with US Ambassador to Cameroon, Niels Marquardt. She selected St. John's University for study (along with her younger sister, Berthe) because of the school's support of cultural programs in Cameroon.

3. Auriol Dongmo (b. 1990)

With an HPI of 39.55, Auriol Dongmo is the 3rd most famous Cameroonian Athlete. Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Auriol Sally Dongmo Mekemnang (born 3 August 1990) is a Cameroon-born Portuguese track and field athlete who competes in the shot put and discus throw. She represented Cameroon at the 2016 Summer Olympics and the World Athletics Championships in 2015. At continental level, she was a two-time gold medalist at both the African Games and the African Championships in Athletics. She holds a personal best of 19.53 m (64 ft 3⁄4 in) for the shot put, both indoors and outdoors. This is a Cameroonian record outdoors and an African record indoors. Her best in the discus is a more modest 47.00 m (154 ft 2 in). She represented her native Cameroon until 2017, transferring her eligibility to Portugal which became active in 2020.

4. Véronique Mang (b. 1984)

With an HPI of 38.67, Véronique Mang is the 4th most famous Cameroonian Athlete. Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Véronique Ngo Mang (born December 15, 1984) is a track and field sprint athlete, competing internationally for France.

5. Antoinette Nana Djimou (b. 1985)

With an HPI of 38.22, Antoinette Nana Djimou is the 5th most famous Cameroonian Athlete. Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Ida Antoinette Nana Djimou (born 2 August 1985 in Douala, Cameroon) is a Cameroonian-French heptathlete and pentathlete. She has won two European Athletics Championships heptathlon gold medals (in 2012 and 2014) and two European Athletics Indoor Championships pentathlon gold medals (in 2011 and 2013). Her heptathlon personal best result is 6576 points, achieved at the 2012 Olympics in London. She acquired French nationality by naturalization on 28 August 2003.

6. Vencelas Dabaya (b. 1981)

With an HPI of 37.44, Vencelas Dabaya is the 6th most famous Cameroonian Athlete. His biography has been translated into 14 different languages.

Vencelas Dabaya Tientcheu (born 28 April 1981 in Kumba, Cameroon) is a French weightlifter. He is a former World Champion, European champion and Olympic silver medalist in weightlifting. At the 2004 Summer Olympics he represented Cameroon, and was flag bearer of the Cameroonian team at the opening ceremony. In the Olympic tournament he ranked 5th in the 69 kg category, with a total of 327.5 kg. He represents France since he became naturalized French citizen in November 2004. He won the bronze medal in the 69 kg category at the 2005 World Weightlifting Championships. Dabaya participated in the men's -69 kg class at the 2006 World Weightlifting Championships and won the gold medal, snatching 146 kg and jerking an additional 186 kg for a total of 332 kg. With his gold medal, became weightlifting's 500th World Champion and received the special IWF Award for this honour. At the 2007 World Weightlifting Championships he ranked 4th in the 69 kg category. He won the silver medal in the 69 kg category at the 2008 European Weightlifting Championships, lifting a total of 333 kg. At the 2008 Summer Olympics he won the silver medal in the 69 kg category, lifting a total of 338 kg. He won gold in the clean and jerk, bronze in the snatch, and overall silver with a total of 333 kg at the 2009 European Weightlifting Championships in the 69 kg category. He is 167 centimetres (5 ft 6 in) tall and weighs 72 kilograms (159 lb).

7. Annabelle Ali (b. 1985)

With an HPI of 37.14, Annabelle Ali is the 7th most famous Cameroonian Athlete. Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Annabelle Laure Ali (born 4 March 1985) is a female freestyle wrestler from Cameroon. She participated in the Women's Freestyle 72 kg event at the 2008 Summer Olympics, where she lost in the 1/8 final to Agnieszka Wieszczek. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she lost to Stanka Zlateva in the quarterfinals. As Zlateva proceeded to the final, Ali was part of the bronze medal repechage, where she lost to Vasilisa Marzaliuk. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she was also the Cameroonian flag-bearer at the opening ceremony. At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, she won the silver medal in the women's -75 kg division.

People

Pantheon has 14 people classified as Cameroonian athletes born between 1941 and 1999. Of these 14, 13 (92.86%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Cameroonian athletes include Françoise Mbango Etone, Auriol Dongmo, and Véronique Mang. The most famous deceased Cameroonian athletes include Joseph Bessala. As of April 2024, 2 new Cameroonian athletes have been added to Pantheon including Vencelas Dabaya, and Annabelle Ali.