Akwasi Frimpong is a Dutch-Ghanaian sprinter, bobsledder, and skeleton athlete. Frimpong was raised in Ghana and later moved to the Netherlands. He is a former Dutch Junior Champion in the 200 meter sprints. To qualify for the Olympics, Frimpong switched nationalities and sports, and represented Ghana in skeleton. Frimpong qualified for the 2018 Olympics in skeleton by obtaining a near-automatic invitation by virtue of continental representation, being the only athlete representing the African continent in skeleton, despite a low ranking that would not otherwise qualify.
Biography
Childhood
Frimpong grew up in Kumasi, Ghana, and moved to the Netherlands at age 8. He met some students who had studied in America and heard about running opportunities there. In order to utilize the time when he was unable to participate in athletic competitions, Akwasi applied to several colleges in America. One of the universities he sent his athletic profile to was Utah Valley University. He was offered an athletic scholarship.
Track career
Frimpong started at UVU in 2008 and ran for the college team in 100 meters, 200 m and the 4×100-meter relay. In May 2010, Frimpong helped the relay team break the school record during the 2010 Great West Conference Championships, with a time of 41.05 seconds. In 2011, he helped UVU 4 × 400 m relay team win a gold medal and broke the meet record during the Great West indoor Championships held at the Armory indoor track in New York City. Individually, his times recorded for the university were 6.99 seconds in the 60-meter dash, 10.71 in the 100 m and 21.93 over 200 m. He graduated from Utah Valley University with honors in marketing and a minor in business management in 2013. After college, Frimpong recorded 6.85 seconds in the 60-meter dash, 10.45 seconds in the 100 meters, and 21.88 seconds in 200 meters race. Frimpong aimed to represent the Netherlands at the 2012 Summer Olympics but was a long way from the Olympic qualifying standards of 10.24 for the 100 m and 20.65 seconds for the 200 m. He was only managing eleven seconds after his injury but improved to 10.45 seconds in 2011. In 2010, he was ranked 70 among Dutch sprinters. He competed at the 2011 Universiade but was again over eleven seconds for the 100 m – with a time of 11.04 seconds . IAAF. He was not selected for the relay team for the 2011 World Championships in Athletics as he was not among the top six runners that year.
Bobsled
After failing to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics, Frimpong switched sports to bobsled, competing as a brakeman for the Netherlands bobsled second-ranked team piloted by Ivo de Bruin, although he was later replaced.
Skeleton, and Olympic qualification via continental representation
After failing to qualify for de Bruin's bobsled team, and with the encouragement of his bobsleigh coach and his wife, he changed sports and national representation in a bid to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics in the sport of skeleton. As Frimpong would not qualify based on standard performance in skeleton, Frimpong elected to represent his birth country of Ghana, which would afford him a near-automatic Olympic berth, as an otherwise unrepresented continent. Like many athletes, Frimpong was not fully nationally funded. Frimpong was helped by donations of an SUV by a local car dealership and multiple sponsorships, as well as coaching and resources provided by the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, and the United States. By the end of 2016 he was ranked 95th in the world. In 2018, Frimpong had slipped to 99th at the close of the qualification period. In prior Olympics, this would have placed Frimpong well outside the cutoff of a necessary 60th placement and is the lowest ever ranking for an Olympic skeleton athlete since skeleton returned to the Olympic program in 2002. However, for PyeongChang, new qualification rules did not hold this requirement, and Frimpong was extended an invite via via "continental representation," originally displacing Alex Hanssen of Norway. No other skeleton athletes qualified via continental representation. Frimpong finished in last place at the PyeongChang Games, of the thirty entrants, a year after finishing in last place at the 2017 IBSF World Championships of the 44 entrants. In February 2020, Akwasi became the first African skeleton athlete to win a skeleton race during the 2020 USA Western Regionals international class in Park City, Utah.
Rabbit Theory
The documentary film, The Rabbit Theory, was produced by Dutch filmmakers Rinske Bosch and Nicole Batteke. It follows Frimpong for five years in the Netherlands, detailing his approach and philosophy for sprinting and attempts at making the Summer Olympics.
