1980 Upper Voltan coup d'état 1980 Upper Voltan coup d'état The 1980 Upper Voltan coup d'état took place on 25 November 1980 in the Republic of Upper Volta (today Burkina Faso). Following a long period of drought, famine, popular unrest and labour strikes, Colonel Saye Zerbo overthrew President Sangoulé Lamizana, another military leader. Zerbo himself would be overthrown only two years later. Upper Volta had gained independence from France in 1960, after which President Maurice Yaméogo set about creating a single-party dictatorship ruled by his own Voltaic Democratic Union. Following several rigged elections and a new austerity budget being instituted, the powerful trade unions rose
Upper Volta at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. Upper Volta was represented by a single athlete in the athletics, André Bicaba, making his only appearance at the Olympics. He took part in the sixth heat of the men's 100 metres, finishing 5th with a time of 10.71 and failing to advance to the quarter finals. Following the 1972 Games, Upper Volta considered sending athletes to the 1976 Summer Olympics, but joined with 28 other countries in a boycott after the IOC allowed New Zealand to participate in the Games, despite the breach of the international sports boycott of South Africa by the nation's rugby