All I regret is that I am being prevented from achieving my dream - Houlèye Ba

I always said that sport was my favorite subject until the day a girl introduced me to athletics. She told me there were competitions, that you had to go faster than the others, and that at the end you could get gifts (laughs). After my first race, I never gave up.

For the Tokyo Games, I left as a tourist. I knew I had already lost. The country just needed someone to represent it, me or anyone else, it was the same. All they want is an honorable participation. You run your race and you go home.

My father has always supported me. He is always the first to push me in the things that are important to me. The complete opposite of my mother, with whom it was war. Here, a woman must stay at home, cook and wash dishes... The proof is that even when she finally accepted that I play sports, she called me a tomboy, saying that I preferred to go running like the men.