(ATR) Nigerian IOC member Habu Gumel tells Around the Rings there’s much more to come from Africa in future Winter Olympics.
Habu Gumel, who also heads the country’s NOC, spoke exclusively to ATR editor Ed Hula at the PyeongChang Olympics.
Nigeria has four athletes at the Games. Simidele Adeagbo was the first from her nation ever to compete at the Winter Olympics and the first African female in skeleton. Africa's first Winter Games bobsled team is headed by Seun Adigun, who represented Nigeria in the 100m hurdles at the London 2012 Olympics. Her teammates are Akuoma Omeoga and Ngozi Onwumere.
The women’s bobsleigh competition in PyeongChang gets underway on Tuesday.
"I feel proud. Nigeria is quite special, in the Winter Olympics for the first time," he told ATR.
"It is good for us, it’s good for my country. And the people at home are excited."
Asked how winter sports in Africa might expand, Gumel pointed to a bright future, with more investment put into training athletes for the Beijing 2022 Winter Games and beyond.
"The majority of athletes are based in Europe and America. That’s where they get their training," he said.
Of all the winter Olympic sports, Nigeria has only a bobsleigh and skeleton federation.
"But I think it will continue to widen."
As for Africa as a whole,Gumel said: "This Games alone, we are about six or seven countries from Africa [actually eight] that are participating and it will continue to increase."
PyeongChang 2018 welcomed 12 athletes from Africa; the other nations competing are Eritrea, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, South Africa, Morocco and Togo. Like Nigeria, Eritrea is appearing for the first time at a Winter Olympics.
Written by Mark Bissonwith reporting from Ed Hula in PyeongChang.
20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.