To quote the 1993 cult classic Cool Runnings — "JamaicaNigeria we have Dubbeda bobsled team."
Well, almost. Three women want to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea as the first Nigerian bobsled team in history. Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga are also hoping to start a bobsled foundation for Africa.
Their efforts mirror Cool Runnings, the 1993 film loosely based on the first-ever Jamaican national bobsled team at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.
"I actually started doing a little bit more research and learned that Nigeria did not have, in history, a sports team that represent bobsled," Adigun told Okay Africa. "So, I was like, 'Wow, that would be something that’d be very positive and very good for the country itself.'”
Adigun, who competed internationally for Nigeria as a hurdler between 2009 and 2012, has experience bobsledding for Team USA. She recruited Onwumere and Omeoga, both of whom are former sprinters but had no prior bobsled training.
Ladies and gentlemen I present to you the Nigerian bobsled team 🇳🇬 pic.twitter.com/jqr8aSljrO
— Miss.Peculiar (@NubianNerd) December 8, 2016
"They get it," Adigun said of her teammates. "They have the heart, they have the passion, they have the dedication."
But the trio won't get by on heart alone.
They started a GoFundMe campaign to raise $150,000 for all the necessary equipment and travel expenses. Based in Texas, they haven't been able to practice on ice, so much of the trio's preparation has been focused on strength training and conditioning.
They still need a real bobsled to replace the wood push cart Adigun built to help her teammates understand the mechanics of the sport.
"When we get ice time, which hopefully we’re planning on trying to get some at the beginning of the year, by God’s grace we’ll be cleared to actually start racing soon," Adigun said.
And yes, they've seen Cool Runnings.
“But honestly," she told BuzzFeed News, "coming up with this team had very little to do with the actual movie and everything to do with the legacy it created.”
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