Cheick Sallah Cissé
A head kick with a tenth of a second left
- Born
- September 19, 1993, Bouaké, Ivory Coast
- Nationality
Ivory Coast- Height
- 186 cm (6′1″)
- Style
- Fast, patient finisher
- Weight
- 80 kg, +80 kg, +87 kg
- Active
- 2014–present
- Status
- Active · age 33
The medals
Olympic gold + bronze; 2023 world title
The story
heick Sallah Cissé came up in the sport under his father, Abdel Kader, himself a taekwondo athlete, and won the 2015 African Games at 80 kg. In the Rio final he trailed Britain's Lutalo Muhammad 6-4 as the clock ran down, then landed a spinning kick to the head a tenth of a second from the end to win 8-6, giving Ivory Coast its first Olympic gold in any sport. He says his team had drilled last-second situations until the kick was a reflex. After a first-round loss in Tokyo he moved up to heavyweight, where he is often the lightest man and relies on speed, and he won the 2023 world title and a bronze in Paris. He carried his country's flag at both of those Games.
Tap a technique with an arrow to learn how it works.
- Olympic champion, 80 kg (2016)
- Olympic bronze, +80 kg (2024)
- World champion, +87 kg (2023)
- African Games champion (2015, 2019)
- Ivory Coast's flag bearer at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 opening ceremonies
Defining matches
- 2016WINvs Oussama Oueslati (Rio Olympic 80 kg semi-final, 7-6)
- 2016WINvs Lutalo Muhammad (Rio Olympic 80 kg final, 8-6, head kick in the last second)
- 2021LOSSvs Achraf Mahboubi (Tokyo Olympic 80 kg first round, 11-21)
- 2023WINvs Carlos Sansores (World Championships +87 kg final, Baku, 2-0 in rounds)
- 2024LOSSvs Caden Cunningham (Paris Olympic +80 kg semi-final; won bronze)
Train the last ten seconds: Cissé's team drilled situations with only seconds left, and his Rio-winning spinning kick came as a reflex. Pick one high-scoring kick and practise it from a trailing position until you can throw it without thinking.
