This year’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea will boast the largest number of black competitors and coaches in the history of the event. This will defy the stereotype that black athletes are disinclined to participate in winter sports. The U.S. is bringing its most diverse team ever to the Games this year, with ten black athletes.
As winter sports tend to be costly, geographic and economics barriers have left black athletes historically underrepresented at the Winter Olympics. In 1988, Stanford-grad Debi Thomas became the first black Winter Olympic medalist after winning a bronze medal in figure skating. Over the years, breakthroughs like Thomas’ have proven that African Americans can be contenders in white-dominated sports.
In light of Black History Month and National Women in Sports Day on Feb. 7, let’s take a look at some of the fierce black female athletes who will be making history at this year’s Olympic Games, starting Feb. 9.
Photo: zimbio.com
Simader was born in Kenya and moved to Austria at the age of three, where she picked up skiing. Growing up as a black woman in a predominantly white area wasn’t easy, but Simader impressed her peers through her athletic talent. According to BBC World News Simader said, “They were really shocked that a black girl can ski like this.” Simader is the very first Kenyan female and alpine skier to compete in the Winter Olympics. Due to the fact that alpine skiing is an expensive sport, costing up to $250,000 to fund a single season, Simader has had to turn to crowdfunding in addition to funding from the Kenyan National Olympics Committee. Her goal? “[To] show the world that a Kenyan girl can ski really fast.”
Photo: latimes.com
At only 17 years old, Ghanaian-born Biney is the first African American woman to qualify for an American Olympic speedskating team. Her father, who crossed the Sahara Desert alone in six months to relocate to Europe and eventually the U.S., invited his 5-year-old-daughter to visit him in Maryland. She ended up staying in Maryland permanently. Biney tried figure skating at the age of six, but her quickness on the ice soon led her to try speedskating instead. Although this meant 5 a.m. Saturday wake-up calls to travel miles for practice, Biney was instantly hooked. She is currently ranked 8th in the nation for short track races, even though she only started training full-time within the past year. Her explosive speed and passion for the sport are sure to propel her ahead of the worldwide competition.
Nigeria’s First Ever Bobsled Team
Photo: bellanaija.com
The modern Cool Runnings: Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga have combined to become the first ever African bobsled team to compete at the Olympics. They are also the first ever Nigerian athletes at the Winter Olympics. All former world-caliber track and field athletes, the Nigerian-Americans were recruited to the U.S. bobsledding team, but instead, decided to represent their Nigerian roots by competing for their home country. The three women paid a visit to Nigeria to promote bobsledding. Seun Adigun created a wooden sled that she dubbed “the Mayflower” to train with in warm weather. The trio will compete against the American bobsled team, which features five black women, among other countries.
Photo: womenofrubies.com
Simidele Adeagbo, four-time NCAA All-American and University of Kentucky school record holder in the triple jump, once hoped to qualify for the Olympics in the track event. Unfortunately, she missed the mark by eight inches, and ended up hanging up her spikes, and dreams for a few years. Inspired by the success of the first-ever Nigerian women’s bobsled team, Adeagbo, a Nigerian herself, reached out, hoping to be their fourth member. Unfortunately, the trio told her that they weren’t looking for any additional athletes. In July of 2017, she decided to give the sport of skeleton (sliding down a frozen track while face-down on a sled, requiring explosivity and speed) a shot. Now, only seven months later, she’s the first female skeleton slider from Africa to participate in the Olympics. Competing alongside Nigeria’s first bobsled team, the country is bringing its largest team ever to a Winter Olympics this year.
Photo: nbcolympics.com
Mayers Taylor was recruited to colleges across the country for soccer, basketball, track and softball. She ended up playing softball at George Washington University on a scholarship. After her collegiate career ended, she dreamed of playing softball at the Olympics. She was devastated to learn softball was removed from the Olympics in 2012. Refusing to give up on her Olympic dreams, Taylor switched to bobsledding, and won a bronze medal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, silver at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, and is itching to finally win gold this month in Pyeongchang. At 33 years old, she is the first female American bobsledder to compete in three consecutive Olympic Games. Meyers Taylor hopes to one day become the CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Looking forward to watching these incredible women compete!