Simader is a 19-year-old alpine skier whose path to the Olympics was improbable, from picking up the sport to having the money to train.
When the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang open on Thursday, Sabrina Wanjiku Simader will be the lone athlete representing Kenya.
Simader is a 19-year-old alpine skier whose path to the Olympics was improbable, from picking up the sport to having the money to train.
According to the BBC’s Yemisi Adegoke, Simader’s father owned a ski lift and took Simader to the ski slopes. Her father trained her, and as she got better, her family moved to Austria to continue working on her dream of making the Olympics. She spent most of her life in Austria but still identifies with her Kenyan heritage.
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Kenya’s only Winter Olympic athlete Sabrina Wanjiku Simader
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Kenya’s only Winter Olympic athlete Sabrina Wanjiku Simader
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However, according to Adegoke, Simader had trouble getting proper funding from the Kenyan National Olympic Committee, something Simader said she believes stems from a lack of awareness about the cost of the sport.
Simader turned to crowdfunding, launching a campaign titled (translated from German) «Ski race in leopard dress» on the website «I believe in you.»
«I am very close to realizing my great dream: to participate in the Olympic Winter Games in South Korea’s PyeongChang in February 2018!» Simander wrote (translated via Google).
«Unfortunately, the Kenyan Olympic Committee does not have a lot of money, so you can not pay for my mum, which is a tremendous support to me.»
Simader laid out the costs of what she needed to do, detailing where the money would go. She needed approximately €11,100 ($13,500). Here is what she wrote for costs.
Simader launched the campaign while trying to qualify for Pyeongchang. According to the BBC, her performance at the World Championships in 2017 helped her qualify — her highest finish was 24th in the super giant slalom.
Simder said she was happy the Nigerian women’s bobsled team also made the Olympics. Additionally, she’ll be accompanied by Philip Boit, who competed in cross-country skiing in the 1998 Olympics and was the first Kenyan to ever make the Winter Olympics.»
» It’s great not to be alone as an African competing,» she said. «I’m happy the other guys can compete and show [the world] what Africans can do.»
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