Nigerian Bobsled Team Makes Olympic History

The statement ‘What a man can do, a woman can do better’ is no more just a statement used to boost the morale of young ladies to aim for more, but a reality as we see a lot of women today occupy prominent positions in almost every line of work. Three incredible Nigerian women have proven this saying yet again, they are Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeogaare. The trio are the first Nigerian athletes to compete in Bobsled, with Seun Adigun as driver and Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeogaare as brakemen. But that’s not all, they are also the first ever African team to qualify for the Olympics after completing five qualifying races and finishing No. 5 in Calgary. They will represent Nigeria at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. The three women each have a track and field record; Adigun competed for Nigeria in the 2012 London Games as a hurdler and also ran at the University of Houston. Onwumere won two medals as a sprinter at the 2015 African Games, and Omeoga was a sprinter at Minnesota. Their Bobsled journey began about a year ago in Houston where they built a homemade sled and called it “The Maeflower.” They also started a GoFundMe campaign lead by Seun Adigun to raise N27 million ($75,000)- the amount they needed to compete in the Olympic trials, and they achieved this in less than 11 months. In just one year these amazing ladies moved from a home sled to the Olympics, and to crown their efforts, last week they signed a sponsorship deal with Visa. The President of the Bobsled and Skeleton Federation of Nigeria told www.theindependent.co.uk “Their hard work was inspiring and I hope Nigerians can appreciate what it took for them to achieve this. They are all very successful people in their own right – in sports and out of it, and somehow they are still motivated and still push for more success.” “I have watched them train and work hard to represent Nigeria at the Winter Olympics in a very technical and high-risk sport and they have achieved that,” he added. Meanwhile, another female Nigerian athlete, Simidele Adeagbo, is working on joining the trio at the Olympics next year as she is just two races away from qualifying for the skeleton competition. If these amazing ladies do not inspire you, I don’t know what will.

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This article was first published on 23rd November 2017 and updated on November 28th, 2017 at 1:58 pm

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