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Nigeria’s Simidele Adeagbo Becomes Africa’s First Female Skeleton Athlete - Sports - Nairaland

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Nigeria’s Simidele Adeagbo Becomes Africa’s First Female Skeleton Athlete by PDPGuy: 4:05am On Jan 14, 2018
Nigerian athletes are not playing with anybody!

Another Nigerian athlete Simidele Adeagbo will be the first African woman to compete in the Skeleton category of the Winter Olympics.

Adeagbo, who will be joining the historic Nigerian bobsled team, qualified after coming 3rd in her 5th qualifying race.

36-year-old Adeagbo is currently ranked 84th in the world, although she first time she ever touched a skeleton sled was in September 2017.

She is a 4-time NCAA All American and triple jump record holder for the University of Kentucky, and had nursed but ultimately dumped an ambition to of competing at the Olympics, hanging her boots in 2008.

Her ambition had been revived in 2016, after hearing about a Nigerian bobsled team planning on competing in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea.

She told ThisDay:

I read an article about how the women had this audacious goal of becoming Africa’s first-ever bobsled team to go to the Winter Olympics. I was super inspired, and instantly thought, I wonder if I could be a part of that?

So, when I saw that, I was thinking, maybe they need a fourth person and maybe that fourth person could be me because there’s a history of track and field athletes going into bobsled.

But after she inquired from the team if she could be the fourth member, she heard back from them saying while bobsled is a 4-person sport for men, it is a 2-person sport for women.

In 2017, another opportunity surfaced. She saw on Instagram a call for tryouts by the Nigerian Bobsled and Skeleton Federation in Houston, Texas.

She had packed her bags and traveled to Houston, arriving on the morning of the tryouts and competing in the evening.

She got a call from the federation weeks later, she said, asking her to show up in camp in Canada. She said:

I honestly didn’t know much about the sport, but knew that there was a lot that I could draw from my track and field background to help me succeed in it. You run as fast as you can for about 30 meters to gain momentum before you launch into or onto something.

I was able to pick up the push start very, very quickly because I already had that experience with the runway of triple jump. Where I really have the advantage is only for a very short amount of time, four or five seconds of the race. But the track is a mile long, so the race will last another 50 seconds.

Adeagbo on her Instagram shared the great news that she had qualified for the winter Olympics, writing:

"Hello Pyeongchang! I successfully completed my 5th qualifying race with a 3rd place finish! I’m looking forward to representing @bsfnigeria & becoming the first female African Skeleton athlete to compete in the Winter Olympics. Dreams do come true!
Yoruba: �Were loba mi se (2X)
Ohun ti mo ro wipe ko seese Were loba mi se �
English Translation: He did it effortlessly for me (2X)
What I thought was impossible
He did it effortlessly for me
THANK YOU JESUS for this amazing blessing & plan for my life! ��#historyinthemaking#breakingbarriers#watchmework �@candicewardphotography"
https://www.bellanaija.com/2018/01/nigerian-athlete-simidele-adeagbo-becomes-first-african-compete-skeleton-winter-olympics/

Re: Nigeria’s Simidele Adeagbo Becomes Africa’s First Female Skeleton Athlete by Sleekydee(m): 4:33am On Jan 14, 2018
are there still pple out there willing to mk Nigeria proud? because Omo Mi I don tire.
Re: Nigeria’s Simidele Adeagbo Becomes Africa’s First Female Skeleton Athlete by Nobody: 4:47am On Jan 14, 2018
Sleekydee:
are there still pple out there willing to mk Nigeria proud? because Omo Mi I don tire.


I will graciously sponsor your trip to LIBYA
Re: Nigeria’s Simidele Adeagbo Becomes Africa’s First Female Skeleton Athlete by fecta: 5:07am On Jan 14, 2018
Abeg which one is skelenton, or do you mean Buhari?
Re: Nigeria’s Simidele Adeagbo Becomes Africa’s First Female Skeleton Athlete by seankay(m): 6:04am On Jan 14, 2018
I came to see a female skeleton.
Re: Nigeria’s Simidele Adeagbo Becomes Africa’s First Female Skeleton Athlete by muhammed50(m): 6:46am On Jan 14, 2018
Where is her left hand??
Re: Nigeria’s Simidele Adeagbo Becomes Africa’s First Female Skeleton Athlete by Nobody: 7:29am On Jan 14, 2018
which one is skeleton again
Re: Nigeria’s Simidele Adeagbo Becomes Africa’s First Female Skeleton Athlete by OneCorner: 7:30am On Jan 14, 2018
Chai! Diz kain galz dey sweet for bed.
U go dey hear "baby, u are fvcking my soul. Fvck it hard"
Doggy go sweet die.

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