Winter Olympics: Does Nigeria have a bobsleigh team in Pyeongchang, and where do they train?
NIGERIA will be represented for the first time at the Winter Olympics.
And the nation's women's bobsleigh team will make history in Pyeongchang as the first African sled to compete at 'the greatest winter show on earth.'
Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga hit the qualifying standard in November but needed to maintain their world ranking until January 14.
They did.
All three bobsledders were once track and field athletes before switching to winter sports.
Adigun competed in the 100m hurdles at the London 2012 Olympics.
It's a fabulous story - comparable to the 1993 film 'Cool Runnings' featuring the famous Jamaican male bobsleighers who competed in the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary.
All three contestants are American-born to parents who emigrated from Nigeria. Little did anyone realise they would be bombing down a bobsleigh track at 80mph.
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There runs are certain to be lapped up as the girls race headlong into the limelight afforded by millions of people watching on television worldwide.
So... how did this remarkable story come about?
Seun Adigun wasn't content with merely competing at London 2012.
She just knew she had the speed and the power and the strength needed to be able to be a successful bobsled athlete.
In 2015 Seun convinced fellow former runners Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga to join the team as brakemen.
Once her teammates were on board official Olympic rules required them to operate under a national governing body. None existed.
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So the Bobsled and Skeleton Federation of Nigeria was formed. A GoFund Me campaign was created in 2016 and the team raised £54,000 in 14 months for helmets, uniforms and travel.
Oh, and their first sled — a wooden vessel affectionately named "The Maeflower."
Is there any significance in calling the sled "The Maeflower".
Yes. Adigun, 31, named it after her stepsister who died in a car accident in 2009 (her nickname was Mae Mae).
Where did the Nigerian team practise?
They began practising in Houston... without snow.
The team's popularity soon attracted Visa and Under Armour as sponsors. To qualify for the Winter Games, the women had to complete five races. They met their goal in November.
Do they have any chance of a medal?
Says Akuoma Omeoga: "That actually has never even crossed my mind yet.
"I'm just taking things one day at a time: Don't get too ahead of yourself, don't get too behind yourself, don't sell yourself short on anything."
Chef de Mission of the Nigerian team, Otumba Gbenga Elegbeleye, adds: “While I cannot stand here and start raising expectations, the girls themselves have demonstrated a lot of determination and with the Nigerian spirit in them.
"I know they can win something."
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What happens to the team afterwards?
Win or lose, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has promised to host the team at a special reception, sending the message:
"You are winners already.”
