Ndiss Kaba Badji (born 21 September 1983) is a Senegalese athlete who competes in the long jump and triple jump. He is the Senegalese record holder for the triple jump, with 17.07 metres, which he achieved when he won the 2008 African Championships. He has a personal best long jump of 8.32 metres, achieved in October 2009 in Beirut, which won him the silver medal at the 2009 Jeux de la Francophonie.
Early career Badji won a silver medal at the African Junior Championships in 2001. He then competed at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Kingston, Jamaica. Here, he finished ninth in the triple jump. In the long jump competition he exited in the qualification round with a result of 7.37 metres.. Retrieved on 27 January 2009. He missed the final round by only one centimetre. His personal bests at that time were 7.83 metres in the long jump and 16.30 metres in the triple jump, both achieved in Dakar. Later that season he finished fifth at the African Championships in Athletics. He jumped 7.90 m, albeit with a wind assistance of 3.6 m/s.
In 2003 he finished fifth at the Universiade and won the silver medal at the All-Africa Games in Abuja. His distance achieved there—7.92 metres—was a new personal best.
International career Breakthrough and fall In 2004 Badji broke the 8-metre barrier for the first time, jumping 8.00 metres at an indoor meet in February in Moscow. In March he competed at the World Indoor Championships, albeit without reaching the final. However, he capitalized on his 8.00 m result during the outdoor season. He won a silver medal at the African Championships in July, and on 1 August he jumped 8.20 metres at a high altitude in Sestriere. At the Olympic Games three weeks later, however, he failed to reach the final round.
Then, in an IAAF out-of-competition test conducted in March 2005, Badji tested positive for the illegal substance androstenedione. As a result, he was barred from competing in the sport between June 2005 and May 2007.
Return Badji returned from his suspension in time for the 2007 season. In June in Algiers he achieved a long jump of 8.11 m. At the All-Africa Games held in the same city one month later he won the triple jump competition, with a new personal best of 16.80 metres. He entered the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, where he finished seventh in the long jump competition. He was the only Senegalese athlete to reach a final at the 2008 Olympic Games. He was also scheduled to enter in the triple jump, but did not actually compete.
In 2008 he improved further. At the African Championships he only competed in triple jump, but won the gold medal with a new national record of 17.07 metres. At the Olympic Games in August he finished sixth in the long jump competition with a season's best of 8.16 metres. Again he also entered in triple jump, but fouled all his jumps. At the 2008 World Athletics Final he finished seventh in the long jump and eighth in the triple jump.
In early 2009 it was announced that Badji had been awarded the Lion d’Or by the newspaper Le Soleil. He was also elected Sportsman of the Year by the Senegalese sports press.
Competition record Representing 2001African Junior ChampionshipsRéduit, Mauritius4thLong jump7.08 m2ndTriple jump15.09 m2002World Junior ChampionshipsKingston, Jamaica15th (q)Long jump7.37 m (wind: -1.5 m/s)9thTriple jump15.29 m (wind: +0.3 m/s)African ChampionshipsRadès, Tunisia5thLong jump7.90 m2003All-Africa GamesAbuja, Nigeria 2ndLong jump7.92 mAfro-Asian GamesHyderabad, India 2ndLong jump7.86 m2004World Indoor ChampionshipsBudapest, Hungary22nd (q)Long jump7.54 mAfrican ChampionshipsBrazzaville, Republic of the Congo 2ndLong jump7.86 mOlympic GamesAthens, Greece27th (q)Long jump7.74 m2005Islamic Solidarity GamesMecca, Saudi Arabia3rdLong jump8.02 m 2ndTriple jump16.34 m2007World ChampionshipsOsaka, Japan7thLong jump8.01 mAll-Africa GamesAlgiers, Algeria5thLong jump7.84 m 1stTriple jump16.80 m2008African ChampionshipsAddis Ababa, Ethiopia 1stTriple jump17.07 m (NR)Olympic GamesBeijing, China6thLong jump8.16 m –Triple jumpNM2009UniversiadeBelgrade, Serbia 2ndLong jump8.19 m (w)World ChampionshipsBerlin, Germany18th (q)Long jump7.98 mJeux de la FrancophonieBeirut, Lebanon 2ndLong jump8.32 m2010World Indoor ChampionshipsDoha, Qatar6thLong jump7.86 mAfrican ChampionshipsNairobi, Kenya 2ndLong jump8.10 m2011All-Africa GamesMaputo, Mozambique 3rdLong jump7.83 m2012World Indoor ChampionshipsIstanbul, Turkey5thLong jump7.97 mAfrican ChampionshipsPorto-Novo, Benin 1stLong jump8.04 mOlympic GamesLondon, United Kingdom24th (q)Long jump7.66 m2013World ChampionshipsMoscow, Russia22nd (q)Long jump7.62 m2014African ChampionshipsMarrakesh, Morocco8thLong jump7.61 m (w)
References