ET teamed up with Visa to introduce the women who are breaking barriers in South Korea.
With two months until the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, ET has teamed up with Visa to get you familiar with all the female athletes breaking barriers on the world stage.
First there's Nigerian athletes Ngozi Onwemere, Seun Adigun and Akuoma Omega, who came to "sleigh,” becoming Africa’s first ever bobsled team.
“People have recognized us and we never really say it’s us initially. We're just kinda like…. waiting for the reaction to come. They're like, ‘Yeah, we heard that there’s this Nigerian bobsled team we're just like…[laughing].”
Initially, the team didn’t even have a bobsled to practice with.
“We did have a wooden sled that we made,” Onwemere explained.
Then there’s U.S. Women’s hockey player Hilary Knight, who has dreamed of playing in the games for nearly her whole life.
“I turned to my grandmother when I was 5 years old and said I was gonna be in [the games],” she shared with ET. “That was before women’s hockey was [an event at the winter games].”
And, of course, there’s U.S. freestyle skier Maggie Voisin, who, at 15 years old, became the youngest competitor in 2014 at Sochi since the 1972 games.
“I wasn’t expected to make the team,” she told ET. “Going into this one I'm still young, but I have that experience and I know what more to expect. I can understand the pressure and I think it’s just gonna set me up that much more going into the games.”
Now, athletes and fans will be able to buy souvenirs and food at the games with Visa’s wearable devices, making for a redefined shopping experience in PyeongChang.
Visa is a proud worldwide sponsor of the Olympic Games. The opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Games kicks off on Feb. 9, 2018.