 Jamanka in 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nationality | German | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 23 August 1990 West Berlin, [1] Germany | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 73 kg (161 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Germany | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Bobsleigh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event | Two-woman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | BRC Thüringen | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turned pro | 2012 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Mariama Jamanka (born 23 August 1990) is a jounalist and retired German bobsledder who won Gold in the two-woman event with Lisa Buckwitz at the 2018 Winter Olympics. [2]
A former discus and hammer thrower of Berlin, Jamanka became a bobsledder in 2013. [3] She entered the Bobsleigh World Cup during the 2015–16 season. In January 2017, she won the European Championship in Winterberg with brakewoman Annika Drazek. Later the same year, she was part of the gold-winning German team in the mixed team event at the IBSF World Championships in Königssee.
Before the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Germany's head coach René Spies changed the brakewomen of the country's two leading two-women bobsleighs: Drazek was assigned to pilot Stephanie Schneider, while Jamanka had to work with Schneider's former brakewoman Lisa Buckwitz, with Schneider and Drazek being the most aspiring German team for the Pyeongchang Games. [4] However, Jamanka and Buckwitz won the event, winning Germany's first two-woman bobsleigh medal since 2006, while Schneider and Drazek, who both became injured during the Games, finished fourth. [3]
Jamanka announced her retirement from the sport in April 2022. [5]
In January 2024, she started as a sports presenter on German national TV. [6]
Mariama's mother is German, and her father is from the Gambia. [7]
Kevin Kuske is a former German bobsledder who competed from 1999 to 2018. Competing in five Winter Olympics, he is the most successful Olympic athlete in bobsledding, winning four gold medals and two silver medals.
The IBSF World Championships, part of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, have taken place on an annual basis since 1930. Starting with 2002, no World Championships being held in non-Winter Olympic years. A two-man event was included in 1931 with a combined championship occurring in 1947. Men's skeleton was introduced as a championship of its own in 1982 while women's bobsleigh and skeleton events were introduced in 2000. Both the women's bobsleigh and skeleton events were merged with the men's bobsleigh events at the 2004 championships. A mixed team event, consisting of one run each of men's skeleton, women's skeleton, 2-man bobsleigh, and 2-women bobsleigh, was held from 2007 to 2019. In 2020 it was replaced with skeleton mixed team event, consisting of one run each of men's and women's skeleton. Women's monobob event was included in 2021.
Kaillie Humphries is a Canadian and American bobsledder. Representing Canada, she was the 2010 and 2014 Olympic champion in the two-woman bobsled and the 2018 Olympic bronze medalist with brakewoman Phylicia George. With her victory in 2014, she became the first female bobsledder to defend her Olympic title and was named flagbearer for the Olympic closing ceremony with brakewoman Heather Moyse.
Stephanie Schneider is a German bobsledder who has competed since 2008. Her best World Cup finish was first in the two-woman events at Whistler in November and Lake Placid in December 2010.
Francesco Friedrich is a German bobsledder who has been active since 2006. At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, he and his brakeman Thorsten Margis tied with Canada's Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz for the gold medal in the two-man competition. Friedrich also won gold outright in the four-man event alongside Margis, Candy Bauer and Martin Grothkopp, making Friedrich the fifth German pilot to win two-man and four-man golds at the same Games, after Andreas Ostler in 1952, Meinhard Nehmer in 1976, Wolfgang Hoppe in 1984 and André Lange in 2006. At the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, Friedrich and Margis again won the gold medal with both sleighs. Friedrich previously competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in the doubles and fours and finished in eighth and tenth place, respectively.
Phylicia George is a Canadian Olympic track and field athlete and bobsledder.
South Korea competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, from 9 to 25 February 2018, as the host nation. It was represented by 122 competitors in all 15 disciplines.
The European Bobsleigh and Skeleton Championships are the main bobsleigh and skeleton championships in Europe. The first bobsleigh European Championships with two-man event was held in 1929 in Davos, Switzerland. However, as Bobsleigh World Championships started to be held on an annual basis since following year, European Championships didn't resumed until 1965. A four-man event was included in 1967 when first combined championship occurred. The men's European Skeleton Championships were held separately in 1981–1988 before resuming in 2003 when women's skeleton event was added as well. In 2004 the first women's European Bobsleigh Championship was held with two-woman event. The following year both the women's bobsleigh and skeleton events were merged with the men's bobsleigh events at the European Championships. Since then, all bobsleigh and skeleton events are usually competes at the same time and venue. Women's monobob event was included in 2022.
Marina Gilardoni is a Swiss skeleton racer and former bobsleigh brakewoman. After starting her sporting career in heptathlon at the club level, Gilardoni began racing bobsleigh in 2007 and earned a place on the Swiss national team. She won gold medals at the Junior World Championships in 2008 behind driver Fabienne Meyer and in 2010 with Sabina Hafner driving. After the 2009–10 season, she switched from bobsleigh to skeleton. In 2018, Gilardoni was selected to represent Switzerland in the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang after the Dutch Olympic Committee refused one of their two entries and it was reallocated to Switzerland.
Switzerland competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, from 9 to 25 February 2018, with 166 competitors in 14 sports. They won 15 medals in total, ranking 7th in the medal table.
Great Britain competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, from 9 to 25 February 2018, with 58 competitors in 11 sports. They won five medals in total, one gold and four bronze, ranking 19th in the medal table.
Kimberley Bos is a Dutch skeleton racer who competes on the Skeleton World Cup circuit. She started competing internationally in 2009, originally in bobsleigh, and was selected to the Dutch national team in 2010; she switched to skeleton for the 2013–14 European Cup season. Her personal coach is Urta Rozenstruik, and she rides a Bromley sled. Away from the track, Bos is a physiotherapy student, occasionally serving as "unofficial physio" to the other athletes. Bos was the only woman named to represent the Netherlands in skeleton at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, where she finished eighth. Bos returned for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, where she won the bronze medal and became the first Dutch skeleton athlete to win a medal.
The two-man women's bobsleigh competition at the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 20 and 21 February at the Alpensia Sliding Centre near Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Mica McNeill is a British bobsledder. She won a silver medal at the 2012 Youth Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, and at the 2021–22 Bobsleigh World Cup event in Sigulda, Latvia. She competed at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics.
Lisa-Marie Buckwitz is a German bobsledder. She won a gold medal in the two-woman event at the 2018 Winter Olympics, and also competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Christine de Bruin is a Canadian bobsledder. She competed in the two-woman event at the 2018 Winter Olympics with Melissa Lotholz. She won bronze in the women's event and a silver medal in the team relay at the 2019 Bobsled World Championships in Whistler, British Columbia.
Martin Grothkopp is a German bobsledder. He competed in the four-man event at the 2018 Winter Olympics, winning the gold medal.
Kim Kalicki is a German bobsledder who competes for TuS Eintracht Wiesbaden 1846. She also representing the Germany national team since 2015 and won the silver medal in the two-woman bobsleigh event at the Bobsleigh World Championships in 2020 and 2021 with Kira Lipperheide and Ann-Christin Strack, respectively.
Cynthia Appiah is a Canadian bobsledder who has been competing in the sport since 2014. Appiah made her World Cup debut in 2016. In 2018, she shifted to the pilot position and later made her World Cup debut as a bobsleigh pilot in the 2019/2020 season. At the IBSF World Championships 2021 in Altenberg, Germany, Appiah placed fifth and ninth in monobob and two-woman bobsleigh, respectively.
The two-woman competition in bobsleigh at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 18 February and 19 February, at the Xiaohaituo Bobsleigh and Luge Track in Yanqing District of Beijing. Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi of Germany won the event, the first Olympic medal for them. Mariama Jamanka and Alexandra Burghardt, also of Germany, won the silver medal, and Elana Meyers Taylor and Sylvia Hoffman, of the United States, bronze.
