African Athletes Aim for Historic First Medal at Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics
A record delegation of 13 athletes from eight African nations will compete at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, marking the continent’s largest presence at the Winter Games. The team, featuring competitors in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing, and skeleton, underscores Africa’s steady, decades-long participation in an event not traditionally associated with the continent.
While African nations are a significant force at the Summer Olympics—winning 39 medals in Paris 2024—the continent has yet to secure its first Winter Olympic medal. This year’s team includes debutants Benin and Guinea-Bissau, each represented by a single alpine skier. Madagascar, Morocco, and Kenya will each send two athletes, while South Africa fields the largest African contingent with five competitors.
Africa’s Winter Olympic history began with South Africa’s appearance at the 1960 Squaw Valley Games. Political boycotts related to apartheid then kept the nation absent until 1994. Morocco followed in 1968, with Senegal making its debut in 1984. Ghana’s first participation came in 2010, and since 1960, a total of 15 African countries have competed across 14 Winter Games.
The journey has been marked by pioneering individuals. Kenyan cross-country skier Philip Boit, who finished last in his 1998 Nagano race, gained global recognition when Norwegian champion Bjørn Dæhlie personally congratulated him at the finish line. “I couldn’t believe that the best cross-country skier in the world was here to congratulate me,” Boit later said.
Madagascar’s Mialitiana Clerc will become the first African woman to compete at three Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina. Discovered skiing in France, Clerc previously represented the island nation in 2018 and 2022. Fellow trailblazer Sabrina Wanjiku Simader, Kenya’s first female alpine skier from 2018, was slated to return but withdrew recently.
Senegal’s Lamine Gueye, the first skier from sub-Saharan Africa at the 1984 Sarajevo Games, founded his nation’s ski federation in 1979 and competed in three Winter Olympics. Now an advocate, he works to expand African access to the Winter sporting circuit.
Despite the persistent medal drought, the growing size and diversity of Africa’s delegations reflect expanding winter sports programs on the continent. The athletes in Cortina d’Ampezzo and Milan will look to break new ground, carrying forward a legacy of determination that began over six decades ago.
