The Most Famous

ATHLETES from Mauritius

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This page contains a list of the greatest Mauritian Athletes. The pantheon dataset contains 6,025 Athletes, 5 of which were born in Mauritius. This makes Mauritius the birth place of the 131st most number of Athletes behind Kiribati, and French Polynesia.

Top 5

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Mauritian Athletes of all time. This list of famous Mauritian Athletes is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

Photo of Richarno Colin

1. Richarno Colin (b. )

With an HPI of 31.52, Richarno Colin is the most famous Mauritian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 10 different languages on wikipedia.

Louis Richarno Colin (born 17 July 1987 in Vacoas-Phoenix, Mauritius) is a Mauritian boxer best known to be All Africa champ 2011. He qualified for the 2008 Olympics at junior welterweight at the 2nd AIBA African 2008 Olympic Qualifying Tournament. At Beijing he upset Myke Carvalho but was defeated by Gennady Kovalev from Russia in the round of 16.(Results) He has competed in the 2010 Commonwealth Games under the name of Louis Colin. In the opening ceremony, he was the flag carrier for Mauritius. He won bronze in the Light Welterweight category in Boxing. At the 2012 African Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament, he also qualified for the 2012 London Olympics. At London, he beat Abdelhak Aatakni in the first round before losing to Uranchimegiin Mönkh-Erdene in the second round. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, he competed in the men's lightweight event.

Photo of Samuel Ward

2. Samuel Ward (b. )

With an HPI of 24.46, Samuel Ward is the 2nd most famous Mauritian Athlete.  Their biography has been translated into 2 different languages.

Samuel or Sam Ward may refer to: Samuel Ward (banker) (1786–1839), American banker Samuel Ward (field hockey) (born 1990), British field hockey player Samuel Ward (footballer) (1906–?), Scottish footballer Samuel Ward (ice hockey) (born 1995), Swedish professional ice hockey goaltender Samuel Ward (lobbyist) (1814–1884), American political lobbyist and gourmet Samuel Ward (minister) (1577–1640), English Puritan minister of Ipswich Samuel Ward (Rhode Island politician) (1725–1776), governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and a delegate to the Continental Congress Samuel Ward (scholar) (1572–1643), English academic at Cambridge Samuel Ward (taster) (1732–1820), painted by Joseph Wright of Derby but known for being Bonnie Prince Charlie's taster Samuel Ward Jr. (1756–1832), American Revolutionary soldier and politician Samuel A. Ward (1847–1903), American organist and composer Samuel Baldwin Ward (1842–1915), American surgeon Samuel Gray Ward (1817–1907), American poet, Transcendentalist, banker, and patron of the arts Samuel Ringgold Ward (1817–c. 1860), American abolitionist and newspaper editor Samuel Ward, the co-composer of "Tell Her", a song sung by Frank Sinatra on his album That's Life Sam Ward (footballer, born 1880) (1880–1968), English footballer

Photo of Jonas Raess

3. Jonas Raess (b. 1994)

With an HPI of 23.21, Jonas Raess is the 3rd most famous Mauritian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 3 different languages.

Jonas Raess (born 8 March 1994) is a Swiss long-distance runner. He competed in the 5000 metres at the 2020 Olympics. Additionally, he earned a gold medal at the 2019 Universiade. Currently, he holds the national title for the 5000 metres and national records for the indoor and outdoor 3000 metres as well as the indoor 5000 metres.

Photo of Roilya Ranaivosoa

4. Roilya Ranaivosoa (b. 1990)

With an HPI of 20.27, Roilya Ranaivosoa is the 4th most famous Mauritian Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 9 different languages.

Marie Hanitra Roilya Ranaivosoa (born 14 November 1990), commonly known as Roilya Ranaivosoa, is a Mauritian weightlifter of Malagasy descent, competing in the 48 kg category and representing Mauritius at international competitions. She competed at several editions of the World Weightlifting Championships. She participated at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the 58 kg event. She represented Mauritius at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. She finished in 11th place in the women's 49 kg event. She won the silver medal in the women's 49 kg event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, England. In December 2022, she was elected as member of the IWF Athletes' Commission. However, her career has been marred by a breach of anti-doping regulations, resulting in her resignation from the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Athletes' Commission and subsequent sanctions. Ranaivosoa's involvement in a doping scandal came to light when the International Testing Agency (ITA), responsible for conducting anti-doping procedures for the IWF, charged her with sample swapping and tampering. The alleged offence occurred in 2016, approximately four months before she participated in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, where she finished ninth in the 48-kilogram category. The alleged sample swapping occurred during an out-of-competition control in Romania, where she was undergoing a training camp under the controversial Romanian Coach Urdas Constantin. Following the charges, Ranaivosoa resigned from the IWF Athletes' Commission. In December 2024, the ITA ruled and confirmed Ranaivosoa’s three-year suspension after she admitted to her wrongdoing in the doping scandal. As part of the sanctions, all her titles and achievements from 24 March 2016 to 23 March 2019 were annulled. This includes the potential revocation of her prestigious Best Sportswoman of the Year awards for 2018 and 2019, pending further review. The admission of guilt marked a dramatic fall from grace for the athlete, whose career had once been a source of national pride. The ruling has left a significant turn in Mauritian sports, as one of its most prominent figures now faces the consequences of actions that compromised the integrity of the sport.

Photo of Merven Clair

5. Merven Clair (b. 1993)

With an HPI of 18.95, Merven Clair is the 5th most famous Mauritian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 7 different languages.

Merven Clair (born 2 July 1993) is a Mauritian boxer. He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the men's middleweight event, in which he was eliminated in the first round by Hosam Bakr Abdin. He also competed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the welterweight class where he was also eliminated in the first round, that time by Kenya's Rayton Okwiri. At the 68th edition of the Strandja Memorial in February 2017, he placed third after a defeat in the semifinals to eventual tournament winner Pat McCormack. At the 2017 African Boxing Championships in Brazzaville, Clair secured a silver medal in the 69 kg weight class, suffering his only defeat of the tournament in the final against Muzamiru Kakande from Uganda. He won the gold medal at the 2019 African Games in Rabat, Morocco in the welterweight class by defeating the Nigerian boxer Abdulafeez Osoba in the final. At the 2020 African Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournament, he was defeated in the quarterfinals by Stephen Zimba by referee stoppage in the second round. He qualified to represent Mauritius at the 2020 Summer Olympics and competed in the men's welterweight event.

People

Pantheon has 5 people classified as Mauritian athletes born between 1990 and 1994. Of these 5, 5 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Mauritian athletes include Richarno Colin, Samuel Ward, and Jonas Raess. As of April 2024, 5 new Mauritian athletes have been added to Pantheon including Richarno Colin, Samuel Ward, and Jonas Raess.

Living Mauritian Athletes

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Newly Added Mauritian Athletes (2024)

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