Ep118: Cynthia Appiah Beijing Olympics Bobsleigh & Monobob

Cynthia Appiah was a standout shot put and hammer throw athlete at York University. In the summer of 2011 she was introduced to bobsleigh at a testing camp at her university and has steadily progressed in the sport since then. She enjoyed a standout rookie season on the World Cup, where she pushed both two-time Olympic champion, Kaillie Humphries, to a gold and bronze medal and rookie pilot Alysia Rissling to her first ever World Cup bronze medal.

After heading to PyeongChang as an alternate on Canada’s 2018 Olympic Bobsleigh Team, Cynthia questioned continuing in the sport, but with encouragement from teammates and coaches she decided to switch positions in the sled into the driver’s seat. Shortly after returning from the Games, she took part in a Lake Placid driver’s school.

Her belief in herself paid off as she quickly became one of Canada’s top pilots! Just last month, December 2021, she won her first medal, a beautiful silver medal, at a World Cup event in Altenberg, Germany. That success followed a bronze medal in an Olympic test event in October on the same track that will be the site of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

Cynthia also continues to be a force on the start block. She set a new Ice House start record from the pilot bar in 2019 at 5.41.

Outside of bobsleigh, Cynthia, trivia buff, watches Jeopardy religiously. She is a huge Blue Jays fan, and previously worked in the team’s customer services department. Her journey toward a life in elite sport began through a Jays Care Foundation outreach initiative where children from under-privileged Toronto neighborhoods were invited to learn to play baseball at a local park.

She was recognized by her peers at Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton with the L. Lamont Gordon Award in 2019. 

Cynthia will compete in the Monobob on February 13 (Heat 1 & 2) and February 14 (Heat 3 & 4 - medal run), 2022. Then she’ll compete in the two-women bobsleigh on February 18 (Heat 1 & 2) and February 19 (Heat 3 & 4 - medal run). You can view the entire Bobsleigh Olympic schedule here.
Other Hear Her Sports winter Beijing Olympic athletes —> Deedra Irwin, Elana Meyers Taylor, and Erin Jackson. Join Patreon for a recent update from Deedra Irwin.

Cynthia on Instagram and Twitter
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Meet Canadian Olympic School Program Ambassador
Shelly-Ann Brown
Kaillie Humphries
Maria Constantin

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