ATHLETES from Cameroon

Top 3

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the 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.

1. Françoise Mbango Etone (1976 - )

With an HPI of 38.93, Françoise Mbango Etone is the most famous Cameroonian Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 30 different languages on wikipedia.

Françoise Mbango Etone (born 14 April 1976 in Yaoundé) is a Cameroonian-born female 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.

2. Antoinette Nana Djimou (1985 - )

With an HPI of 25.72, Antoinette Nana Djimou is the 2nd 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.

3. Véronique Mang (1984 - )

With an HPI of 25.33, Véronique Mang is the 3rd 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.