The 2018 World Athlete of the year Awards, organised by International Association of Athletics Federations, and why Ghana’s first Skeleton Olympian, Akwasi Frimpong, is now known as the ‘Black Panther’, are some of the sports stories we followed this week.
Have Africa's athletes been the best in the world this year?
South Africa’s Luvo Mayonga, Kenyans Eliud Kipchoge, Emmanuel Korir and Timothy Cheruiyot are nominees for the Male Athlete of the Year Award.
They will be competing against athletes from the rest of the world including Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba, New Zealand’s Tomas Walsh and Noah Lyles and Christian Coleman of the United States.
France’s Kevin Mayer and Sweden’s Armand Duplantis are also nominated.
In the category for Female Athlete of the Year, South Africa’s Caster Semenya and Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech are the nominees from the African continent.
The other athletes nominated include Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, Netherlands Sifan Hassan, Croatia’s Sandra Perkovic, Shaunae Miller-Uibo from Bahamas and Mariya Lasitskene.
Belgium’s Naffissatou Thiam, Poland’s Anita Wlodarczyk and Colombia’s Caterine Ibarguen are also nominated.
Let's take another look at the athletes nominated for the World Athlete of the Year award?https://t.co/aLvwhaUgGY
Could the winner be among them??#AthleticsAwards pic.twitter.com/SXAudwZdSn— IAAF (@iaaforg) November 8, 2018
Ghana’s Black Panther
The Olympic Channel officially reported on their website that they will be following the new skeleton season through the eyes of the ‘Black Panther’
Why?
Thanks to his new racing suit, a new helmet and a new perspective, Ghana’s first Skeleton Olympian, Akwasi Frimpong, is now known as the ‘Black Panther’!
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Akwasi’s racing suit for the 2018 Olympic Games featured a rabbit escaping the jaws of a predator in the form of a lion.
The designer of the suit, Matt Millette says he was inspired by the Wakanda fever that spread through Africa when the Black Panther movie was released earlier this year.
“After researching Ghanaian culture, motifs and tribal markings we discovered elements that we could modify and utilize to embed meaning, therefore power, into the new suit design,” Millette said.
The BLACK PANTHER ON ICE ❄️ ! MY NEW 2018/2019 SKELETON RACE SUIT. #WAGHANA?? FOREVER ??♂️!
Scroll for more pics and share!#hopeofabillion #blackpanther
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Helmet by jboairbrush Suit company sportconfex suit design mmillette78 pic.twitter.com/bdKyWUESL5
— Akwasi Frimpong OLY (FrimpongAkwasi) November 6, 2018@danmumbere