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Nigeria, Ghana to make history at 2018 Winter Olympics
These African countries will be making debut appearances in some sports
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Skeleton is an individual sport in which the athlete rides on a small sled, known as a skeleton bobsled (or sleigh), down a frozen track while lying face down (prone).
Akwasi Frimpong of Ghana and Simidele Adeagbo of Nigeria will be the first Africans to be participating in the skeleton event at the Winter Olympic. For Adeagbo, she will be making history as the first African female skeleton athlete and Nigerian winter Olympian.
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Frimpong will be the second Ghanaian to participate in the Winter Olympics. Ghana’s only appearance at the games was in 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia where Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong represented the country in the Slalom Ski event.
How they made it to the Winters Olympics
Frimpong and Adeagbo’s qualifications to the 2018 Winter Olympic was facilitated by the new rule for qualifying for the Olympic bobsled and skeleton event.
According to International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF), the rule grants the automatic Olympic slot for the top athlete per continent. This is so long as they complete five races on three different tracks in the last two seasons before the games.
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What you should know about Akwasi Frimpong
Akwasi Frimpong was born and raised in Ghana. He, however, left for the Netherlands at the age of eight. After a fairly successful career as a track and field athlete, Frimpong switched to skeleton sport in 2015 and he has represented Ghana in major track events.
“With all the things I went through as a (track and field) athlete in the Netherlands and the US, I have learned to face fear. I have learned that it’s possible,” Frimpong said in an interview with Business Insider Sub Saharan Africa.
“Through skeleton, I’m trying to show people to come out of their comfort zone as much as possible and get into something different. We cannot all be Abedi Pele, we cannot all be Usain Bolt, but we all have talent that we can definitely use,” Frimpong explained.
Akwasi Frimpong is profiled as an entrepreneur and motivational speaker.
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What you should know about Simidele Adeagbo
Simidele Adeagbo was born in Toronto, Canada to Nigerian parents but she lived the first six years of her life in Nigeria.
According to Adeagbo during an interview posted on Nike, she first touched a skeleton sled in September of 2017.
“I read an article about how the women had this audacious goal of becoming Africa's first-ever bobsled team to go to the Winter Olympics,” Adeagbo recalls.
"I was super inspired, and instantly thought, hmm, ‘I wonder if I could be a part of that?"
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Simidele Adeagbo is a Marketing Manager at Nike Inc. Africa Office in Johannesburg South Africa.
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