Issake Dabore

At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, Dabore competed in the men's welterweight competition.[1] By doing so, he became the first person from Niger to compete at an Olympics.[3] Dabore was the only athlete from Niger who competed at the games.[4] In his competition, Dabore was drawn against Hong Tshun Fu of Taiwan in the first round.[1] Dabore won the fight due to a technical knockout.[1] In the second round, in which sixteen athletes competed in, Dabore was drawn against and beat Hans-Erik Pedersen of Denmark.[1] Dabore again won the fight due to a technical knockout.[1] In the quarterfinals held on 19 October 1964, Dabore was drawn against Pertti Purhonen who had defeated Australian Frank Roberts and Czechoslovak Bohumil Němeček to reach the quarterfinal stage.[1] Purhonen won the fight 3–2 and, therefore, Dabore was eliminated.[1] The competition was eventually won by Marian Kasprzyk of Poland.[5]

At the 1965 All-Africa Games in Brazzaville, Dabore participated in the welterweight competition. He won the silver medal, losing in the final to Joseph Bessala of Cameroon.[6]

At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico, Dabore competed in the men's light-welterweight competition.[1] He was one of two Nigeriens who competed at the games, with fellow male boxer Dary Dasuda the other.[7] In the second round of his competition (he had a bye in the first),[1][8] Dabore was drawn against José Marín of Costa Rica.[1] Dabore won the fight 5–0 and he therefore progressed to the third round.[1] In the third round, Dabore lost 4–1 to Yevgeny Frolov of the Soviet Union.[1] Dabore was, therefore, eliminated from the competition; a competition that was eventually won by Jerzy Kulej of Poland.[9]

At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, Dabore competed in the men's light-welterweight competition.[1] Dabore was one of four athletes from Niger who competed at the 1972 games.[10] The other three athletes; Mayaki Seydou, Harouna Lago and Issoufou Habou; were all also boxers.[10] Dabore carried the Nigerien flag in the opening ceremony.[3] In the first round of his competition, Dabore fought against Odartey Lawson of Ghana.[10] Dabore beat Lawson due to a technical knockout.[10] In the second round, Dabore beat South Korean Park Tai-Shik, again due to a technical knockout.[10] In the quarterfinals, Dabore faced Kyoji Shinohara of Japan.[10] Dabore won the fight 3–2 to progress to the semi-finals.[10] In his semi-final, Dabore faced Bulgarian Angel Angelov.[10] Angelov won the fight 5–0 and, therefore, Dabore was eliminated.[10] Dabore, along with the other loser in the semi-finals, Zvonimir Vujin of Yugoslavia, won a bronze medal.[11] Dabore's medal was Niger's first ever Olympic medal.[12] As of 2016, only one other Nigerien athlete has won an Olympic medal.[12] That was Abdoul Razak Issoufou, who won a silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Taekwondo.[12]

At the 1973 All-Africa Games in Lagos, Dabore participated in the light-welterweight competition. He won the silver medal, losing in the final to Obisia Nwankpa of Nigeria.[13]