Interesting story:
Adigun is also no stranger to sport or the cold. She grew up in Chicago, is a University of Houston graduate and a lifelong track and field athlete. In the 2012 games, she competed in relay and hurdles for Nigeria. Last year, she decided to switch specialties after she watched other runners attempt to extend their Olympic careers with a pivot to the bobsled track.
A Mesquite Woman Wants to Represent Nigeria in the Winter Olympics
Growing up in Mesquite, Ngozi Onwumere didn’t have much of a chance to participate in winter sports. And yet, improbably, the 25-year-old University of Houston graduate and her friends Seun Adigun and Akuoma Omeoga recently qualified to represent Nigeria in the bobsledding competition in this February’s Winter Olympics. It’s an achievement that has brought the three American-born children of Nigerian immigrants a great deal of attention from the media—as well as plenty of joking references to the 1993 movie Cool Runnings. Sometime this month the Nigeria Olympic Committee will officially inform them whether they’ll actually get to compete. If they do, they’ll be the first team to represent Nigeria in any Winter Olympics.
In 2014 I watched bobsled for the first time to cheer for friends. I thought, Hmm, I’m getting a little bit of this Olympic fever again. I went to the 2012 Olympic games for track and field. I let it marinate in my brain. About eight months later, I realized the U.S. was having a tryout in Dallas, and that was only a few hours away from Houston. I thought it was a sign.
I ended up doing really well and was invited to train with the U.S. team. I was a member of the U.S. team for a year when I learned that Nigeria had never had a bobsled team, and then I found out that Africa had never been represented by any man or woman in this sport at all.
http://www.uhcougars.com/sports/c-track/spec-rel/020818aab.html
Training for the women’s bobsled at the Pyeongchang Olympics is scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. CST, on Saturday, Feb. 17. The team will run through two training sessions each day across Feb. 17-19, before competition begins with the first of two heats on Tuesday, Feb. 20. The final two heats of the women’s bobsled will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 21, beginning at 5:40 a.m. CST.
To answer your first question, they are all three retired. Officially. No more training for those heart-stopping runs down an icy run with little or no room for error.
And your second? They are far from done with their other journey – the one to bring Winter Olympics sports to not just Nigeria and other African countries, but to other countries around the world.
"We’re trying to make sure that we create something others can be inspired by,‘’ Adigun said at a Wednesday afternoon reception to celebrate the team at the University of Houston where she competed and was an assistant coach. "Something people can follow.‘’
©Copyright 2017 Coogfans.com
