Cynthia Appiah (born ''Cynthia Appiah Serwaah'' on May 15, 1990) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

bobsledder Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Feder ...

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 The 2021 IBSF World Championships was held in Altenberg, Germany from 5 to 14 February 2021. They were originally awarded to Lake Placid but were moved because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year saw the introduction of the Women's Monobob eve ...

in Altenberg, Germany, Appiah placed fifth and ninth in

monobob Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Feder ...

and two-woman bobsleigh, respectively.

Early years

Cynthia Appiah was born on May 15, 1990, to

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

ian immigrants, James and Mary Appiah (''née'' ''Serwaah'') in

North York North York is one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located directly north of York, Old Toronto and East York, between Etobicoke to the west and Scarborough to the east. As of the 2016 Census, it had a popu ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. Appiah's journey towards sports began at the age of 8 when she first joined the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

Rookie League, a social initiative by the team's foundation, Jays Care, to support youth in low-income and underprivileged communities of Toronto. Appiah has stated that though she was "pretty terrible, hestill had a lot of fun."

Career

Appiah officially joined the world of elite sport in 2008 when she made the transition from provincial to national competitions as a

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

throwing athlete for

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

, specializing in the

hammer throw The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consis ...

and

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

. In the summer of 2011, she attended her first

Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton (BCS) is the official federation for bobsleigh and skeleton in Canada. It serves as the Canadian representative for the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation and is part of the Canadian Olympic Committee. BCS i ...

(BCS) test camp, which by chance, happened to be taking place at her university. After a successful test camp, Appiah declined the invitation to join the training camp at Lake Placid so she could focus on completing her final year at York and earn her degree - a Bachelor of Arts in history with a minor in Psychology - though she would keep in communication with the BCS organization for her eventual return to the world of bobsleigh. Appiah competed as a York Lion from 2008 to 2013 and was named Athlete of the Year (2012–2013) in her final year.

Life as a bobsleigh brakewoman

In the 2013 - 2014 season, Appiah had a standout rookie season on the World Cup circuit where she pushed both two-time Olympic champion,

Kaillie Humphries Kaillie Humphries (born Kaillie Simundson; September 4, 1985) is a Canadian-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 Phylici ...

, to a gold and bronze medal, along with rookie pilot

Alysia Rissling Alysia Rissling (born November 16, 1988) is a Canadian bobsledder. In 2015, she was the pilot for the first all-woman team in an official four-man bobsleigh race after the event became gender neutral. She competed in the two-woman bobsleigh ev ...

to her first ever World Cup bronze medal. Appiah excelled as a brakewoman with fast pushes and medal-winning performances at all levels while working her way through the system, sliding provincially and on the North America's Cup circuit, through to the World Cup circuit. In the season leading up to the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

Pyeongchang, South Korea Pyeongchang (; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ; ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seou ...

, Appiah's determination and athleticism led her to be the top brakewoman in the BCS program. Regardless, Appiah was named as an alternate brakewoman to the Olympic team and therefore would not be officially competing at the Olympics.

Switching to the pilot seat

After contemplating leaving the sport altogether, Appiah decided to give the sport another chance, but this time as a pilot. Appiah channelled the frustration from the games into fuel and purpose to excel as a pilot, giving her more control over reaching her Olympic goals. With this new sense of purpose in mind, Appiah headed back to Lake Placid, where she would rebuild her bobsleigh career from square one. She took part in a driver's school and practiced mastering the art of piloting a sled on the Development Bobsleigh Team. No less than a year after making the switch to the front seat, Appiah set a new Ice House "start record" from the pilot bar in 2019 at 5.41 econds Later that year, Appiah was awarded the L. Lamont Gordon Award, an award given to a bobsleigh or skeleton athlete who embodies the spirit of Team Canada. In January 2022, Appiah was named to Canada's 2022 Olympic team.

Personal life

Cynthia Appiah is a Toronto native and the daughter of Ghanaian-Canadian immigrants. She has one older brother and two younger sisters.

Activism

Appiah is a vocal advocate for the benefits of sports in enriching the lives of others. She is an active ambassador with the ''Jays Care Foundation'' the charitable arm of the

who provides sports programming to underserved youth in communities across Canada
Fast and Female
a Canadian charity with a mission to keep self-identified girls aged 8–14 healthy and active in sports, an
Classroom Champions
a non-profit organization co-founded by former US-bobsledder

Steve Mesler Steven Michael Mesler (born August 28, 1978) is an American bobsledder. He is the co-founder, President and CEO of the international award-winning non-profit education organizatioClassroom Champions Mesler also currently serves on thBoard of Dir ...

and sister, Dr. Leigh Mesler Parise, that connects volunteer Olympians, Paralympians, Student-Athletes, and Professional Athletes with K-8 classrooms through a social and emotional learning curriculum and mentorship experience to improve engagement, build growth mindsets and inspire positive classroom culture.

References

External links

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Cynthia Appiah
at

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Appiah, Cynthia 1990 births Living people Black Canadian female track and field athletes Canadian female bobsledders Sportspeople from North York York University alumni Canadian people of Ghanaian descent Black Canadian sportspeople Bobsledders at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic bobsledders for Canada