By J. Zamgba Browne
Chief Correspondent
While the Nigerian bobsled team at the Winter Olympics in South Korea didn’t win any gold, it didn’t leave Pyeongchang empty-handed.
After picking up bobsledding skills only 15 months prior to competing, Seun Adigun, Akuoma Omeoga and Ngozi Onwumere’s green and white Nigerian flags are flying high with pride in South Korea.
These women have reportedly done something no one else has done before. The trio became the first Olympic bobsled team in history to represent an African nation. And they did not take their accomplishment lightly.
Adigun, the driver recalls watching Simone Biles, Ibtihaj Muhammad and other Black athletes break barriers at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil and feeling inspired.
The Nigerian-American athlete, who represented the U.S. track and field team in London, recruited Omeoga and Onwumere and set out to make a mark after realizing that no African nation had ever had a bobsled representative at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Adigun and Omeoga competed in last week’s two-woman bobsled event, finishing the heat in 52.21 seconds. Though they finished in 20th place out of 20, the time was a personal best for them at the Olympic and a reason for future celebration.
Onumere said she believes it’s important “to represent not only people of color but Africa. We represent so many things in one and to be able to positively represent that says something.”
They have had a lot to celebrate, even months before they first qualified for the 2018 Games in November. They have been featured in headlines and in viral dancing videos, as fans and admirers beam with pride at the door they flung open.
It created a ripple as the trio inspired Simidele Adeagbo to break a barrier of her own, becoming the first skeleton racer to represent Nigeria at this year’s Olympics.
“Growing up as a little kid, you always look for people who either represent you in some sort of fashion,” said Omeoga. “Whether that is the clothes they wear, whether that is the way they talk, anything like that to see that we could be that,” she added.
