It was November 15, 2017, and Seun Adigun was about to qualify for the Olympics. She crouched slightly as she stared down the bobsled track.
What was going through her mind? Perhaps she was picturing the twisting and turning course she was about to sled down at an average speed of about 90 miles per hour. Or maybe she was thinking about the history she was about to make.
She flipped her face guard down and waited for the starting signal. And with that, she was off.
"This Is A Huge Milestone"
That night, Adigun and her teammates completed the fifth and final qualifying race for the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. When it was all over, they became Nigeria's first Olympic women's bobsled team. In fact, they will be the first bobsled team from the entire continent of Africa to compete.
"This is a huge milestone for sports in Nigeria," she told KweséESPN a few days after the last race. She felt proud that she could help to create "opportunities for winter sports to take place in Nigeria," she added.
"Our objective now is to be the best representation of Africa that the Winter Olympics have ever witnessed," Adigun said.
Nothing Fancy
Getting here was no easy task, especially since Adigun was a newcomer to the sport of bobsledding. She used to be a sprinter. She even competed for Nigeria in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
She started her transition to bobsledding from scratch last year and convinced two other Nigerian sprinters, Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga, to join her. Like Adigun, Onwumere and Omeoga also live in the United States.
With little funding or equipment, the trio began practicing. Like the famous men's Jamaican bobsled team that made history at the Olympics in 1988, they started with a makeshift wooden sled. Adigun built it herself.
"I just went for two or three days straight, just hammering and drilling and sawing this wooden sled together," Adigun recalled. She said that the comparisons between her team and the Jamaican bobsled team that made history in 1988 were "honorable."
Bobsledding Gets Its Recognition
Adigun's team ended up funding much of their efforts through an online crowdfunding campaign. It raised $75,000, including $50,000 from one donor who did not reveal his or her name. The money was enough to convince the Nigerian government to start a governing federation for bobsledding, and it allowed the team to start practicing in a real bobsled on ice.
The team got better and better. Adigun was always in the driver's seat, and she was backed up by either Onwumere or Omeoga. They completed races in Utah as well as in Whistler and Calgary in Canada where the final race for the Olympics took place in November.
"I commend the personal dedication and commitment of these women," Nigerian Bobsled and Skeleton Federation President Solomon Ogba told ESPN. "Their hard work was inspiring and I hope Nigerians can appreciate what it took for them to achieve this – the work, the discipline, and the personal sacrifices. They were amazing throughout this journey."
Sledding For A Medal
It would be an amazing accomplishment for the Nigerian women to finish in the top three at the Olympics this year and win medals. No African competitor in any Winter Olympics event has ever done so.
Morocco and Algeria, for example, have entered skiers in several Olympic Games. South Africa, Cameroon, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Senegal, Togo, and Zimbabwe have entered athletes in past Winter Olympics events as well. None has ever fielded a bobsled team, though.
A Ugandan snowboarder, 24-year-old Brolin Mawejje, was hoping to make history this year, as well. He has been trying to qualify as the first snowboarder to represent any African country in the Olympics. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with a heart condition last spring and was forced to end his 2018 Olympic dream.