It is no longer news the 2018 Winter Olympics also known as the XXIII Olympic Winter Games which held in Pyeongchang South Korea have come and gone. The Asia situated county beat the likes of Munich (Germany) and Annecy (France) for the rights to host this multi-sport event when they were announced winners by votes in July of 2011.
What we were however gushing about was not how unfavourable the weather was but the participation of Africa’s most populous country Nigeria whom made its debut at the event hosted every four years during the winter period. Eritrea also appeared for the first time joining South Africa, Madagascar, Kenya, Morocco, Togo and Ghana which meant Africa had 8 representatives, the most by the continent in a single event.
It is strange for African countries to participate in such events due to the winter period it is held but credit must be given to the individuals who decided to put their various countries on the map with the government of most of these countries not usually interested until an individual takes the bull by the horn by sourcing for funds to sustain them during preparation till the games end. Senegal’s Lamine Gueye practically set up the country’s Ski Federation so he could participate and represent Senegal in the Skiing event at the 1984 Sarajevo games without government backing.
The Nigerian Bobsled team and also the first African participant ever in this particular event relied on crowd funding to be able to participate at this year’s games before the commercial sponsorships began to roll in. The enthusiasm and genuine passion shown by Seun Adigun and Ngozi Onwumere (Bobsled team) and Simidele Adeagbo (Skeleton) clearly led to Nigerians and Africans at large paying attention to this year’s event.
Togo and Morocco participated in Cross-Country Skiing with Morocco also taking part in the Alpine Skiing event with Eritrea, Kenya, South Africa and Madagascar. Ghana also participated in the Skeleton event alongside Nigeria.
Winning a medal at the Winter Games still eludes the African continent and this can be alluded to the lack of snow or ice weather conditions on the continent but there are encouraging signs from the Pyeongchang Games as it presented the most countries from Africa and subsequently the Winter games will garner more followership.
The next Winter games holds in 2022 from the 4th of February to 22nd of February in Beijing, China.
Photo credit: ViaMedia