The journey begins in a Texas garage, where an international track and field athlete constructs a makeshift wooden sled.
This is no Hollywood script, but the reality of the last six years for Nigeria’s Seun Adigun — a woman that has made a habit of striving to go where no others have gone before.
As a child, she dreamed of becoming the first woman to compete in the NBA.
The former 100m hurdler could not have envisaged this day would come as she lined up alongside the world’s best at London 2012.
But, as she puts it:
“Fear is really just another opportunity to learn.”
To be able to bring something back to not only the country of Nigeria — which has so gracefully given me my family, my culture and everything I stand by — but also to the continent of Africa and the world…
To bring a gift for people to know that resilience is something that you can actually live to achieve, and that the fear of the unknown doesn’t need to be something that limits your ability to thrive in life … those qualities will be important for everybody to be able to take in.”
But, beyond the pursuit of medals, she preaches a universal message.
“Don’t be afraid to take that risk,” says Adigun. “Impossible is nothing.
“You can sometimes stand in front of a door without knowing what’s on the other side and open it. You won’t know what’s on the other side until you open it.
“Being in an uncomfortable place isn’t bad [and] it isn’t wrong; it’s just different. Sometimes you need to be able to take that chance.”
She founded the Nigerian bobsled team in 2016; she represented Nigeria at the 2018 Winter Olympics in 2-women bobsled.
