Samuel Ikpefan: Cross-country Winter Olympics Pioneer Inspiring Next Generation
As Samuel Ikpefan cruised along the icy, chilly terrain of the cross-country event at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, China, the very import of his historic feat must have played back in his head as the landscape vanished in his pace. He was going where no Nigerian had ever ventured before and in a competition that previously only a unit of female bobsleigh athletes from Nigeria had challenged in.
The Olympian was featuring in the Games for a tropical country for whom snow was a feature from the movies and pictures of temperate regions and for whom the closest one came to needing warm clothing consisted of the dry chill of a harsh harmattan period or the inclement drop in temperature that follows a thunderous downpour. Neither of these come within the sub-zero conditions that attend to a wintry season obtainable in temperate zones and give testimony as to why Nigerians are notoriously challenging for honours at the Summer Olympics while giving the Winter Games a respectable berth.
The foregoing was why Ikpefan's representation of the tropical West African "Giant of Africa" drew as much interest at home in Nigeria as it did in media circles across the world. Aside the political gymnastics that Western countries were playing in their diplomatic boycott of the Games, where they refused to send government representatives alongside their athletes to register their discontent with human rights conditions in China, Ikpefan's story was one of the most interesting aspects of news reporting on the Games. It was an interesting story of determination in the face of odds buoyed by a resolute will to achieve set goals amidst obstacles and impediments. It was a tale of making the best of the hand one was dealt and forging ahead with steely willpower and the strength of character as to become an inspiration to others.
That is Ikpefan's story and THEWILL tells it to, like the Olympian himself, inspire a new generation of sports men and women, who are ready to defy the odds and go beyond the limits of their forebears to venture into uncharted waters and make a name for themselves.
It began 29 years ago, long before Ikpefan's exploits at Beijing and long before he became the first-ever Nigerian skier to participate in the Olympic Winter Games. A Frenchman by birth, the former native of Annemasse in the Alps of France was conditioned for the chilly climate by nurturing, as he grew up in these conditions. After his first skiing experience at the age of six, the desire that drove him to pursuing a professional career in skiing was ingrained and the young Ikpefan could dream of nothing else but to spend the required man hours training and perfecting the craft to become that which he dreamed of, night and day.
However, right from the commencement of his dream-chasing, he had to contend against obstacles.
Ikpefan had progressed through the French youth system and emerged as a sprint champion at the age-range youth competition. It was the most encouraging springboard that was going to shoot him from near obscurity to knocking on the door of stardom and a solid foundation towards his goal of a professional career in ice skiing.
Just as he was on the brink of his big break at the senior level, he was unable to make the cut and did not make the French skiing team. This shutout in 2011 appeared to have sounded the death knell to all his pursuits of a professional career cruising at heartracing speeds while in the Spandex of an athlete representing his country and taking pride in his accomplishments. For no less than five years, Ikpefan, who put his Olympic pursuit on hold, was in the limbo of disappointment and near despair as he tried to hold on to the dying embers of what was once a fierce flame of desire and passion.
When it looked as if the dark clouds of disappointment were going to consume his dreams, piercing light shone through to rekindle his hope. Ikpefan came across the possibility that his dual citizenship presented him to challenge for honours as a Nigerian, because of his father's ancestry. The Pays Rochois skier did some more digging and, to his utter consternation, found that Nigeria actually had its own Ski Federation. Not for the first nor the last time, the skier was faced with a challenge after making contact with the federation. The vice-president of the Federation wanted to put this French-born skier to the test, so he invited him to travel to Nigeria with his roller skis and participate in a demonstration. Again, Ikpefan rose to the occasion and arrived in Nigeria for the first time in his life.
It turned into an emotional rollercoaster for the athlete and he described it himself: "It was huge, it touched me. I saw my father again for the first time in a year as he moved there for his retirement. When I walked on Nigerian soil, I started to get emotional. Some tears came to my eyes."
Following a pre-arrangement, Ikpefan was met by a large throng when he arrived in Nigeria, and when it was time for him to meet the vice-president of the Nigerian Skiing federation, the media was there at hand to cover the event. The demonstration, which was shown live on national television, took place in the 60,000-seat Abuja National Stadium, which also hosts the Nigerian football team whenever they play at the country's capital city. The athlete gained the right to represent Nigeria in international tournaments after putting on a convincing display of his abilities. The native of Annemasse in the French Alps, on the other hand, had to wait until 2018 to begin his quest, when he got a Nigerian passport and, with it, the ability to represent his father's homeland. It enabled the French youth sprint champion to strengthen his bond with a culture that has always played an important role in his life in France. He was able to relaunch his career as a cross-country skier as a result of his decision to represent Nigeria.
When people saw his Nigerian costume at FIS races and the Alpine Cup, they were intrigued. But, when he began to perform, though, they were quickly convinced of his ability. Ikpefan was one of two Africans running in the crosscountry world championships a few weeks later. It was a huge honour for him, and it validated his determination to persevere in the face of adversity and sacrifice.
The athlete, who grew up in a family of athletes, including a rugby-playing brother named Daniel, now hopes that his journey can inspire a new generation as he works hard to help others follow in his footsteps to Milano Cortina 2026, where he has been named captain of a team of three young skiers who, like him, are Nigerians who live in other countries.
Simultaneously, he aims to capitalise on the hype around his participation in the Olympic Winter Games to popularise roller skiing in Nigeria, particularly among a segment of the population already engaged in rollerblading. If Ikpefan has his way, these are already candidates for inclusion in any Nigerian delegation to the World Summer Roller Ski Championships, and they can be prepared to compete in international tournaments, as he is determined to do after his achievements in Beijing. Nigeria has a strong foundation that will hopefully allow them to compete in the Olympic Winter Games for many editions to come, with a population of over 250 million people, a young demographic, and trailblazers like Ikpefan showing them the way.
He is a living testimony of Nigeria's growing interest in the Winter Olympics, since he is the country's second representative at the Chilly Olympics. His appearance in Beijing comes four years after the country's female athletes competed in skeleton and bobsleigh in PyeongChang 2018 in South Korea. Just like the determination of Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere, Akuoma and Simidele Adeagbo, who flew Nigeria's flag in the 2018, to put Nigeria on the participating countries list, the landmark achievement of these Olympians will be relevant for years to come. They have set the ball rolling for the men's and women's competitions and done so in three different competitive events, skeleton, bobsleigh and cross-country, to inspire another generation of Nigerians to pick up the gauntlet and keep the hope of reaching a podium finish to establish the country as a bona fide challenger both in the Summer and Winter Games. This is because, while the mark of participating has been planted, reaching the medal places has been a bar too high for now.
In the cross-country skiing event, Ikepfan was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Men's Sprint Free as the 30-year-old finished 73rd out of 88 competitors with a timing of 3:09.57s. The reaction of the National Organising Committee was the type of positive line that can make for better performance in the future. The NOC's spokesperson, Phemmy Adetula, said the Olympic organisation will assess his performance and see what it could do to assist him better for the next Olympics. In his words: “We are really in pain about what happened this morning (Tuesday). It was unfortunate that he had to lose out of the medal contest. This is the first time for Nigeria and whoever has been to the winter Olympics knows what it is. It is not always easy, though we are not happy about what happened because we were not praying for this. Nigerians back home are very in pain that he lost out, but since he has participated at the Olympics he is now an Olympian and we will take it up from there to see what can be done to improve toward the next Olympics.”
The future appears to be bright for more of Nigeria's participation in upcoming Winter Games with Ikpefan playing a major role in it. He is already captain of the team to heading for Milano Cortina 2026 and, with as much support as he and his teammates can get, he looks set to keep up his inspirational journey, to fly the country's flag, to put Nigeria's name on the Winter Olympics horizon and inspire the next generation to move the needle of milestone achievements in much the same way as he has in Beijing.
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We are really in pain about what happened this morning (Tuesday). It was unfortunate that he had to lose out of the medal contest. This is the first time for Nigeria and whoever has been to the winter Olympics knows what it is