Bobsledding is one of the most popular sports in the Winter Olympics and in the 2018 Winter Olympics three-Nigerian American women are making history as being the first ever African bobsled team to compete in the Olympics.
Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere, and Akuoma Omeoga are the faces behind the team and it will be a historic moment when the women grace the bobsledding scene on February 9.
In an Ellen interview, Adigun stated, “Everyone is going absolutely nuts, The crazy thing about it is that most people don’t really understand what bobsleigh is but they don’t care” when Ellen asked about the reaction to Nigeria. “They just know the flag is raising high, and they are excited about it.”
The ladies aren’t afraid of a bit competition as they were once all track-stars with Onwumere competed in the All-African games and Adigun made it to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
“I started bobsled at 28 years old. It’s not that I wasn’t able to start earlier. I didn’t have a clue about it,” Adigun said in a CNN interview.
Adigun recruited her friends Onwumere and Omeoga as her brake women to form a bobsledding team for Nigeria after turning down to represent team USA. “They told me there’s an opportunity for me to help change what it means to be a bobsled athlete for the continent of Africa, and in the sport itself.”
“We are this Cinderella story, and we didn’t really mean it be to be this. It comes with a lot more pressure, but I’m not thinking it about that way,” said Adigun to the New York Times. “I put a plan down, and I am ready to execute that plan.”