Oluwatobiloba Oladapo I. A. Olusegun Olubi (born 24 September 1987) is a British sprinter and bobsledder. He competed in the Bobsleigh four-man event at 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 ...

. Prior to appearing at the Olympics, he won £12,000 on the television game show ''

Deal or No Deal ''Deal or No Deal'' is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which (launching the format) was the Dutch ''Miljoenenjacht (Netherlands), Miljoenenjacht'' (''Hunt/Chase for Millions''). The centerpiece of this f ...

''. In May 2023, Olubi was named "Phantom", as one of the new Gladiators in the reboot of the television series of the same name broadcasting on BBC One from January 2024.

Life and career

Oluwatobiloba Oladapo I. A. Olusegun Olubi was born on 24 September 1987 in a council estate in

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...

and attended Bacon's College, Saint Francis Xavier College, and Brunel University London, where he read economics and politics. He was initially a sprinter, but did not progress further than county level, and took up bobsledding after being invited for trials due to his 6ft 4in, 112kg frame. He joined Team GB's bobsled team in June 2013, and was coached by Lee Johnston. In 2014, Olubi made a formal complaint against Johnston for telling him that "black drivers do not make good bobsleigh drivers" shortly after he began training. Much of Olubi's salary was paid by

UK Sport UK Sport is the government agency responsible for investing in Olympic and Paralympic sport in the United Kingdom. It is an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. It was created ...

and the National Lottery and by a post as a secondary school supply teacher. In 2016, after finding that his salary wasn't enough for him to train five days a week, he applied for various British game shows. He appeared on an episode of ''The Cube'', where he lost £10,000 after failing on the fourth task, before winning £12,000 on ''Deal or No Deal''. He also appeared on ''Can't Touch This'', a game show in which contestants are shot out of a catapult and navigate an assault course; he told PA Media in 2018 that he had been "shot out of a cannon" on the programme, and described himself as a " human cannonball". Olubi attempted to contest the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

, but had to pull out after suffering a serious injury, and also missed the

2015–16 Bobsleigh World Cup The 2015–16 Bobsleigh World Cup was a multi-race tournament over a season for bobsleigh. The season started on 27 November 2015 in Altenberg, Germany and ended on 28 February 2016 in Königssee The Königssee is a natural lake in the extreme ...

through injury. He and Brad Hall contested the

2017–18 Bobsleigh World Cup The 2017–18 Bobsleigh World Cup was a multi-race series over a season for bobsleigh. The season started on 9 November 2017 in Lake Placid, USA and ended on 21 January 2018 in Königssee The Königssee is a natural lake in the extreme southeas ...

, but was disqualified after he fell off and completed the course on foot. He then contested the

, where he,

Lamin Deen Lamin Deen (born 17 June 1981) is a British bobsleigh pilot and Grenadier Guardsman. He qualified for the 2014 Winter Olympics in both the 2-man (in which he raced with John Baines) and 4-man disciplines. Deen was born in London into a family ...

, Andrew Matthews, and

Ben Simons Ben Simons may refer to: *Ben Simons (bobsleigh) (born 1986), British bobsleigher and former athlete *Ben Simons (politician) (born 2000), American politician See also

*Benjamin Simons, British theoretical physicist *Ben Simmons (born 1996), Au ...

came 18th. He also appeared on ITV's ''The Big Audition'' and the Discovery+ dating show ''Written in the Stars.'' In May 2023, he was named "Phantom", as one of the new Gladiators in the television series of the same name, which began broadcasting on BBC One from January 2024 and was watched by six million viewers.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Olubi, Toby 1987 births Living people British male bobsledders Olympic bobsledders for Great Britain Bobsledders at the 2018 Winter Olympics Place of birth missing (living people) English people of Nigerian descent