African Athletes That Made Waves In The 2018 Winter Olympics

If you roll back the clock to a couple of decades ago, the Winter Olympics had little no African presence. However, that has now changed. The last edition of the Winter Olympic Games, taking place in South Korea, was true to Pierre de Coubertin’s five interlocking rings. Every continent had athletes to cheer for—including eight plucky ones from the African contingent.

In this blog post, we’ll discuss the African athletes’ winding journey that lead to Pyeongchang. Some of these athletes were unheard of in their nations before the 2018 Winter Olympics. Many were raised/born in more traditional winter climates abroad, but decided to switch their colors and go back to their roots for these games. Let’s take a closer look.

Eritrea

The 2018 Winter Olympics had many firsts, with the most notable ones being Eritrea’s first ever appearance in the games, when Canadian-born Shannon-Ogbnai Abeda represented the land of his fathers. The then-21-year-old computer science student spent his entire life in Calgary, where he discovered his passion for skiing.

His decision to represent his parents’ country garnered a positive response and huge support from not only Eritrea and Africa as a whole, but also the Eritrean-Canadian community. Although Abeda failed to pick up any medals, he has firmly established himself as one of Eritrea’s favorite sons.

Kenya

Sabrina Wanjiku Simader, 22-year old Alpine skier, was three years old when her family relocated from Kilifi, Kenya, to Austria. She discovered the love of skiing through her stepfather who was a ski-lift operator. In 2018, she became just the second athlete to represent Kenya at the Winter Olympics, after Philip Boit, the cross-country skier. More importantly, she was the first Kenyan women ever to represent her nation at the Winter Olympics.

Ghana

Out of all African athletes that appeared at the 2018 Winter Olympics, Akwasi Frimpong’s story is perhaps the most inspiring. He was born in Ghana, before he moved to the Netherlands with his mother at the age of 8. As an adolescent he was drawn to sprinting, and became the Dutch National Junior 200m champion at 15. However, his dream to compete at the Olympics as a sprinter was shattered when he sustained an ankle injury before the 2012 games.

However, Frimpong bounced back in stunning fashion. He traded the track for ice, and made a seamless transition to skeleton racing. In 2018, he became the first-ever skeleton athlete to represent Ghana at the Winter Olympics.

You can learn more about Akwasi Frimpong’s incredible story here.