Bobsleigh-Pyeongchang competitor Adeagbo lodges gender discrimination complaint

BEIJING : Elite Nigerian monobob and skeleton competitor Simidele Adeagbo has lodged a formal complaint with the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF), alleging gender discrimination in the spots allocated to men and women at the Beijing Games.

In a letter to the IBSF obtained by Reuters, lawyers for the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympian said she was excluded from the 2022 Olympic monobob event by a single spot due to "an insidious and willful gender disparity in the number of sled spots made available for men and women."

IBSF did not immediately respond to a request for comment early on Wednesday.

"It is only because of this gender discrimination that Ms. Adeagbo was deprived of the opportunity to compete in the 2022 Winter Olympics," attorneys Jeffrey L. Kessler and Cardelle Spangler wrote.

The monobob was introduced to the Olympic programme for the Beijing Games with the intention of bolstering the number of women who can compete in the bobsleigh events in Beijing.

Men are allocated 28 sled spots in the four-man bobsleigh event and 30 spots in the two-man, while women are allotted 20 spots in the monobob and 20 in the two-person bobsleigh.

Fourteen of the 20 monobob competitors also competed in the doubles.

"When I hear the narrative around monobob I think that 'wow, that sounds great' but when you peel back the layers it’s not actually what is happening – it didn’t in fact create the opportunities they maybe intended it to," Adeagbo told Reuters.

“There’s enough high-calibre athletes,” she added. “Instead, women are being left at home.”

'EQUAL TREATMENT'

The letter indicated that Adeagbo would initiate an arbitration proceeding before the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Feb. 25 if the IBSF can not provide "dispute