Nogona Bakayoko

Bakayoko originally competed in badminton before switching to wrestling after the 2017 Jeux de la Francophonie. In a 2024 interview with RFI, she said that she discovered wrestling after those Games and then went on to win national titles in both freestyle and African wrestling in 2017 and 2018.^[3]

She competed at the 2019 African Games in Morocco and finished fifth in the women's freestyle 53 kg category.^[4]

At the 2022 African Wrestling Championships in El Jadida, Bakayoko won the silver medal in the women's freestyle 53 kg event, losing in the final to Nigeria's Mercy Adekuoroye.^[5] She won another silver medal at the 2023 African Wrestling Championships in Hammamet.^[6]

At the 2023 African Games in Accra, Bakayoko won the silver medal in the women's freestyle 53 kg event. RFI described it as the first medal for Côte d'Ivoire at those Games.^[7]

In 2024, she won the bronze medal at the 2024 African Wrestling Championships in Alexandria. United World Wrestling reported that she defeated Miriam Orock Ngoe Wase of Cameroon 10–0 in the bronze-medal bout.^[8]

In 2025, Bakayoko won the silver medal at the 2025 African Wrestling Championships in Casablanca. UWW listed her among the entries in the 53 kg division, and her athlete profile records the runner-up finish.^[9][10]

Bakayoko also competed at the 2022 World Wrestling Championships, where she finished 20th in the women's freestyle 53 kg event.^[11]

• Nogona Bakayoko at United World Wrestling
• Nogona Celine Josee Bakayoko at the International Wrestling Database