Video: These Winter Olympic Skeleton Athletes Have Animals on Their Helmet for a Cool Reason
OutdoorHub Reporters 02.16.18
Perhaps the most daunting event at the winter Olympics is skeleton, where athletes hop on a little tray with ice skates and fly down a frozen track reaching speeds of around 80 mph. Oh yeah, and they go down the track head-first!
So, why are we telling you about skeleton at the Olympics?
Well, while watching these racers make their runs, we noticed some athletes had animal designs on the front of their helmets, so we dug a little deeper.
Barret Martineau (aka Grizz) races for Team Canada, and you can probably guess where he got his helmet design inspiration from:
Akwasi Frimpong is perhaps the most talked about athlete on the skeleton track at Pyeongchang, however. He’s the only athlete representing Ghana at this year’s winter games, and only the second Ghanaian to ever participate in the Winter Olympics, The Atlantic reports.
His helmet is a nod to his home, sporting a fierce-looking lion:
Here’s a short video with Barret Martineau explaining when he earned his nickname ‘Grizz,’ and why it’s important for him to pay homage to his country:
