Photocredit: Akwesi Frimpong
Ghana’s
first ever Bobsled and Skeleton athletes, Akwesi Frimpong who has
been spotted on by the media globally and locally for the past few days
have officially launched the Federation to help promote the new winter Olympic
sports in Ghana.
Akwesi Frimpong,
together with his team begun the launch with an open presentation at the
Decathlon Ghana to enlighten the members and the general public about
the discipline. The event attracted some members from the sports fraternity,
students and for the first time, 45 athletes were taken through a few
drills from 15-meter fly sprints, weight training to broad jump practice.
Speaking
to the session of the media present during the launch, Akwesi mentioned
that the goal of the project was to develop not only the interest of the sports
in the country but to develop the athletes to compete internationally. He added
that his board members are helping out to train athletes for the upcoming 2022
Beijing Olympics.
Akwesi won the
admiration of the public when he shared his videos online,
displayed his previous events as well as showing his consistency and
perseverance to put Ghana and Africa in the Bobsled and Skeleton discipline in
the world’s competition. He used his locally manufactured wooden sleds on
wheels to demonstrate how the Bobsled and Skeleton was operated.
He
mentioned that, half of the training would be done in the country Ghana which
would focus on basics of the events. “Half of the training will be done in
Ghana with the focus on strength, speed and pushing sleds, and the sliding and
steering on ice will be done in Europe and North America” the press
statement expressed.
Akwesi finally
shared his experience over the years after being away from Ghana for 23years and
how the few days he spent in Ghana has aligned his focus to make the First ever
winter sports federation in Ghana a success.
Meanwhile,
the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation was established in
1923. According to the ibsf.org, the International Olympic Committee declared
bobsleigh and skeleton Olympic sports during the FIBT Paris congress
in 1926 and skeleton rules of St. Moritz, Switzerland was used for
the completion. In addition, the Skeleton has over the years increased in
participants from 20 countries in 1992 countries who took part in the Global or
World Series to presently 30 countries in six continents in the world according
to ibsf.org.
Jamaica
also made their first appearance in Bobsled in 1988 Winter Olympics
in Calgary, Alberta, and Canada. This inspired the movie “Cool Runnings” a
movie directed by Jon Turteltaub, which was about Jamaican
Bobsled - a 1993 American comedy sports film.
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