Françoise Mbango Etone

Who is Françoise Mbango Etone?

Françoise Mbango Etone is a Cameroonian-born female track and field athlete. She has competed internationally for France since 2010. While competing for Cameroon, Etone was a gold medalist in the triple jump at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. She retained her title with an Olympic record distance of 15.39m at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

She is also a talented long jumper who finished second at the African Championships in 1999. She is the first athlete representing Cameroon to win medals at the World Championships, Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games. She has been a scholarship holder with the Olympic Solidarity program since November 2002.

During the 2005–06 academic year, she lived in New York City on a scholarship to attend St. John's University in Queens. The scholarship was made possible through the collaboration of the American electricity company AES Sonel along with US Ambassador to Cameroon, Niels Marquardt. She selected St. John's University for study because of the school's support of cultural programs in Cameroon.