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Nigeria’s women’s bobsled team has made history at the 2018 Winter Olympics as the African country’s first team to qualify for the bobsled competition.
Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga made their Olympic debut at the 2018 Winter Olympic in Pyeongchang. These fearless ladies qualified as the first ever African athletes, male or female, to compete in the Winter Olympic games in bobsled.
Photo: City Voice Nigeria
Although they did not take home any medals, and placed twentieth at the games, their story and the memories that these ladies left behind make their story quite unique.
Adigun, Onwumere, and Omeoga all have a background in track and field. In 2012, Adigun competed in the 100-meter hurdles at Summer Olympics in London. Onwumere competed in track at Houston, and Omeoga competed in track at Minnesota. Three years later, she was recruited by the U.S. bobsled team to work as a brakeman.
“I started bobsled at 28 years old,” Adigun said to CNN. “It’s not that I wasn’t able to start earlier. I didn’t have a clue about it.”
After falling in love with the sport, Adigun sparked the idea to form her own bobsled team representing Nigeria. In 2016, Adigun recruited her friends Onwumere and Omeoga, and it wasn’t until 15 months before the Winter Olympics that they started to train together as a team.
“She kidnapped us. That’s the story,” Omeoga said to CNN.
Photo: Nigerian Entertainment Today
The ladies were anxious to get their journey started, so they developed a GoFundMe page to raise money for their equipment and training. They even picked up sponsors such as Under Armour, Visa and Beats by Dre.
They trained in Houston, Texas, but promoted their sport in Nigeria. Adigun built the team’s first training sled, nicknamed the Maeflower after her late sister, out of wood, until they raised enough money to construct their official team bobsled.
Photo: NAWRB
One of the top goals the trio aimed to achieve was inspiring other Africans to participate in winter sports.
“There is no reason why people should feel like there’s only one lane they need to stay in,” Adigun said in the CNN interview. “Diversity explains to people that there are no limits in this life.”
Now worldwide celebrities, these ladies have won over the hearts of all Olympic followers. We can’t wait to see what the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing has in store for them.