Africa’s Winter Olympic 2018 Hopefuls

1 day to go till the Winter Olympic games begin in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The games will run from 9 to 25 February 2018. Africa’s winter olympics hopefuls are ready and prepared to compete.

Africa was first represented at the Winter Olympics at Sarajevo 1984 by Senegalese alpine skier Lamine Gueye. At the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, Togo and Zimbabwe were the only nations from the continent to send athletes to the Winter Olympics.

This year 8 countries will be proudly representing the continent of Africa. This is a list of African nations and athletes competing for winter Olympic Gold in 2018.

Eritrea

Eritrea will be making its debut at the Winter Olympics. Eritrea’s team consists of one alpine skier, Shannon-Ogbani Abeda.

Abeda’s father and mother fled Eritrea in the early 1980s and came to Canada as refugees, the computer science student taking part-time courses through Athabasca University and the University of Calgary, told CBC Sports he wears both national identities with pride.

The second-generation Canadian came onto the world stage at 16 years old, representing Eritrea at the 2012 Youth Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.

Ghana

Ghana represented for first time in skeleton. Akwasi Frimpong has been confirmed as Ghana’s first Olympic skeleton athlete. Frimpong, who will turn 32 during the Games, was born in Ghana before moving to the Netherlands aged eight.

After enjoying success as a young athlete – winning the Dutch 200m junior title in 2003 – Frimpong switched to winter sports after missing out on the London Olympics through injury.

Frimpong was first introduced to bobsleigh – narrowly missing the cut for the Dutch team for Sochi 2014 – before changing to skeleton.

Kenya

Kenya qualified one female athlete, Sabrina Simader. Simader was born in Kenya, and moved to Austria when she was three years old, where she picked up the sport. Simader also represented the country at the Winter Youth Olympics in 2016 in Lillehammer, Norway.

Kenya will be making its debut in the sport at the Winter Olympics. Simader is aiming for a top 20 finish in her events. Aside from the Alpine Ski World Championships, other major races she has participated in include the World Cup in Slovenia and the Giant Slalom in Marburg, Germany. She speaks 5 languages, Kikuyu, Kiswahili, German, English, and Italian.

Nigeria

Nigeria will be represented for the first time at the Winter Olympics. Represented by Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere, and Akuoma Omeoga. Who hit the qualifying standard in November but needed to maintain their world ranking until 14 January 2018.

Simidele Adeagbo will also fly the West African nation’s flag in the women’s skeleton. All three bobsledders were once track and field athletes before switching to winter sports, with Adigun competing in the 100m hurdles at the London 2012 Olympics.

Adeagbo, 36, only took up skeleton four months ago but will compete in Pyeongchang after finishing third in her two races at the North American Cup in Lake Placid, New York at the weekend.

Madagascar

Madagascar has qualified one female athlete, Mialitiana Clerc. Clerc was born in Madagascar, and was adopted by a French family at the age of one. She learned to ski in France.

Morocco

Morocco qualified one male athlete for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Adam Lamhamedi and his brother Sami, both qualified to compete at the games, however only one can compete. Just like in 2014, Sami will travel as an alternate in case of injury to Adam.

Adam is a Moroccan-Canadian alpine skier who has competed since 2010 on the Fis circuit. Lamhamedi was born in Canada, and competed for Morocco at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

South Africa

South Africa qualified one male athlete for the 2018 Winter Olympics. 22-year-old Sive Speelman set to become the country’s first black alpine skier at the Winter Olympics.

Although South Africa has a good number of skiing athletes, the country has produced only two Olympic alpine skiers, Alexander Heath and Peter Scott – both white men. This must be what inspired Speelman to pursue this dream after he was discovered in a development program headed by Heath.

Motivated by his humble beginnings in the small, rural and impoverished town of Barkly East he put in the work and qualified for Pyeongchang.

Togo

Togo qualified one female athlete. Alessia Afi Dipol who is originally Italyian, but is an alpine skier who competes for Togo. She competed for Togo at the 2014 Winter Olympics in the slalom and giant slalom.

Dipol also originally competed for India between 2012 and 2013, but she later switched to compete for Togo even though she has no familial connections to the country, so she could qualify to compete at the 2014 Winter Olympics. She also chose to represent the country because her father owns a clothing factory in Togo.