PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (AP) — Growing up in St. Paul, Minnesota, Akuoma Omeoga was raised on Nigerian food, language and culture. Next week, the 26-year-old will represent her parents' homeland in the Winter Games, hurtling down the bobsled track with her tresses — dyed green as a tribute to the country — flapping beneath her helmet like a flag.
"One of the biggest things my parents did was speak the language at home," Omeoga recalled in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday. "It's super familiar to me, even though it's not something that I speak fluently .