At the Winter Games in Beijing there will be five African nations’ flags flying at the opening ceremony at the Bird’s Nest stadium on Feb. 4, with Madagascar the only country with two athletes.
In 2018, eight African nations were represented in South Korea, with historic firsts for Nigeria as Simidele Adeagbo became the nation’s first Winter Olympian when she took to the skeleton track.
ESPN looks at the six African athletes competing in China, as well as which names from the continent are missing from the record-breaking numbers in Pyeongchang four years ago.
— Competition schedule in Beijing
Taking part in Beijing:
Samuel Ikpefan – Nigeria – Cross country skiing
Ikpefan, who was born in France and has a Nigerian father, will become Nigeria’s first male Winter Olympian and their first cross country skier when he competes in Beijing. He is the only African athlete to compete outside of alpine skiing this year.
Ikpefan, who got his Nigerian passport in 2016, told the Olympics website: “When I was at the World Championships I didn’t get a lot of attention, but it will be different when I represent Nigeria at the Winter Games. It has already happened with bobsleigh and skeleton but this time it’s cross-country skiing, and it’s a sport many people can take part in. Teaching my sport to the younger generation is my greatest source of pride.”
Carlos Maeder – Ghana – Alpine skiing
The Switzerland-raised slalom skier missed out on qualifying for Pyeongchang, but at 43 years old this year, he will be bearing the flag for birth country Ghana in Beijing. He will be the oldest athlete in the alpine skiing field.
Shannon Abeda – Eritrea – Alpine skiing
Abeda was Eritrea’s athlete when they made their Winter Games debut in 2018, and he will again be their sole representative. He finished 61st in the giant slalom then, when he was just 21, and endured much abuse on social media afterwards. He decided to step away from the sport and focus on his studies and weightlifting, before making a return to skiing in 2021. Abeda was born in Canada after his parents fled the war in Eritrea in the 1980s, and started skiing at age 3.
Mialitiana Clerc – Madagascar – Alpine Skiing
Clerc is the only African woman to compete in Beijing, a big drop from the record numbers in Pyeongchang. Clerc was born in Madagascar before moving to France with her adoptive parents as a baby, and took up skiing as a toddler. Her appearance at the Games in 2018 was a first for a Malagasy woman, and she was only 16 at the time. She finished a credible 47th in slalom and 48th in giant slalom, out of a field of 80. In Beijing she will not be alone this time, as Madagascar is the only African country with two athletes.
Clerc told the Olympics website: “I’m trying to be the first [African] woman who will make a World Cup podium and bring back a gold medal from at the Olympics. I want to be one of the best skiers in the alpine skiing world. And at the Olympics in Beijing, I want to be in the top 40.”
Mathieu Neumuller – Madagascar – Alpine Skiing
Teenager Neumuller was born and raised in France, and will become Madagascar’s second male Winter Olympian after Mathieu Razanakolona, who made the country’s Games debut in 2006. Neumuller, who is studying to become a ski instructor, made his senior debut in 2020, and will be Madagascar’s flag bearer in Beijing.
Yassine Aouich – Morocco – Alpine Skiing
Morocco’s lone participant, 31-year-old Aouich has a long history competing in ski events around the world in slalom and giant slalom events. Morocco have never won a medal at the Winter Games, and this will be the eighth time they compete.
Notable missing names:
Akwasi Frimpong – Ghana – Sliding
The Dutch-Ghanaian skeleton racer did not qualify for Beijing after the continental quota slots in the sliding sports were done away with for this edition. Frimpong was actually on course to qualify even without quotas, but a COVID-19 infection in January ruled him out of two crucial races and he had no quota slot to fall back on. There are no Africans in any of the sliding disciplines this year.
Simidele Adeagbo – Nigeria – Sliding
The former triple jumper made history in 2018 when she became Nigeria’s first Winter Olympian, and the first Black African woman to compete in the skeleton. Adeagbo was aiming to compete in the new monobob event in Beijing but missed out on qualification by a single place, and without the quota system she had no recourse. In January she became the first African to win an international sliding event when she won a Europe Cup event in Austria.
Three Nigerian-American sprinters captured international attention in 2018 when they took to the track in South Korea, becoming the first African bobsled team. They finished 20th, just behind Jamaica’s two-woman sled. Seun Adigun, who founded the bobsled team, is Africa’s only summer and winter Olympian, having competed in hurdles for Nigeria at London 2012.
Connor Wilson – South Africa – Alpine skiing
Wilson, who was South Africa’s only representative in Pyeongchang, made his debut at the Games in 2018 while studying veterinary sciences in the US. He finished neither the men’s slalom nor giant slalom events, and did not qualify for Beijing.
Sabrina Simader – Kenya – Alpine skiing
Simader, who grew up in Austria, was set to compete in her second Winter Games until just days before the event began, when she announced on Instagram that she would be unable to attend due to a lack of funding. She wrote that the funding promised to her by the Kenyan government did not materialise, and that she was unable to train properly for Beijing. In 2018 she became Kenya’s first female Winter Olympian.
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