Adeagbo seeks to inspire next generation of bobsledders

[FILES] Simidele Adeagbo | Konbini

Visiting schools in Lagos and Ekiti states respectively, the Nigerian Olympian, Simidele Adeagbo, was in the country to give back to schools and encourage students to take up bobsledding.

Adeagbo, who was part of the pioneer set of Nigerian Winter Olympians, is looking to inspire the next generation of bobsledders, who would go on to take part in competitions and win medals.

Collaborating with Sustainable Education and Enterprise Development (SEED) Care and Support Foundation, she donated 500 copies of her new children’s book, Sleigh, Sleigh, Sleigh All Day, sharing customised classroom lessons centered around the book’s impactful story of her courage.

Speaking to students in Ekiti State, Adeagbo said: “I am from where you are and this same community shaped me. If I can come from Ekiti and break barriers as an athlete, there is no reason you can’t be anything you imagine. We are winners and we can achieve anything we strive for.”

In the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, Adeagbo became the first Nigerian Winter Olympian and the first African and black woman to compete in skeleton (a sport in which athletes hurl themselves headfirst on a sled down an icy hill at eighty miles an hour).

She has since become the first African gold medal winner at an international bobsled race and is the most decorated Nigerian and African bobsled and skeleton athlete of all time.

She’s currently training for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympic Games.

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