Queen A., athlete and elected official

Born into a family of sports enthusiasts, she began her sporting career with basketball and volleyball, but it was to athletics that Ayodelé Ikuesan turned at the age of 12. "I've always loved to run fast, right from playtime at school", she recalls. She then joined Championnet Sports (a club in the 18th arrondissement, the district where she grew up) and developed a passion for the discipline. The athlete specialized in speed events and was crowned French cadet champion over 60 m and 100 m in 2002, the year she joined the Stade Français, while continuing to train at the Porte de Saint-Ouen (18th arrondissement).

Ayodelé Ikuesan continued to progress in the youth categories until, at the age of 23, she was selected to represent France in the 4 x 100 m relay at the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing. A member of Parisian clubs since her early days (Championnet Sports, Stade Français, Racing Club de France, Lagardère Paris Racing), the she left the capital in 2010 to train in Chambéry, then Clermont-Ferrand.

In 2012, the sprinter took part in her second games in London, just a few weeks after finishing fifth in the 4 x 100 m at the European Championships in Helsinki. Unfortunately, the French relay did not make it out of the heats, but this was only the beginning.

Ayodelé Ikuesan experienced her first big break at the World Championships in Moscow. On August 18, 2013, the French relay team (made up of Ayodelé Ikuesan, Céline Distel-Bonnet, Stella Akakpo and Myriam Soumaré) finished second in the race, earning a silver medal. It was the Parisian's first international podium finish. Nevertheless, they would only keep this World Championship runner-up medal around their necks for four hours before being disqualified, due to an out-of-zone handover between Ikuesan and Soumaré.

The sprinter didn't let her international medal hopes slip away for a second time. A year later, at the 2014 European Championships in Zurich, she won silver in the 4 x 100 m relay with the same teammates as in Moscow. A fine piece of revenge.

In the individual event, Ayodelé Ikuesan qualified for the 100 m final by beating her personal best in the semi-final: "It was the best moment of my career. In the heats, my run wasn't extraordinary, but it was enough to get me through. In the semi-final, I was in lane 8, so I stayed focused on my race. I was a long way off at the start, but I hung in there and beat my personal best (11'22''). And I tell myself that if I'd had a better start at the beginning of my race, it could have been even faster", she recalls. In the final, the sprinter finished in eighth place alongside Céline Distel-Bonnet (sixth) and Myriam Soumaré (second).

Having returned to train in the Paris region since 2014, in Sarcelles (Val-d'Oise), at the Paris Université Club and now in Créteil (Val-de-Marne), the sprinter is very attached to her hometown: "The idea is to finish my career at a Parisian club, as this is where it all began," explains the athlete who has sat on the Athletes' Commission at the CNOSF (French National Olympic and Sports Committee) since 2017.

Beyond her athletic endeavors, Ayodelé Ikuesan has taken an active role in the political sphere of her native town. In June 2020, she assumed the position of deputy mayor for the 18th arrondissement of Paris, overseeing health improvements and harm reduction. She is deeply committed to the community that nurtured her growth and her rise to athletic prominence.