CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Simidele Adeagbo lives and trains in Charlotte.
She competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics in skeleton for Nigeria, and hoped to be in Beijing taking part in the newly added monobob competition.
"The Olympics are really inspiring," Adeagbo said. "I love to watch the Olympics as a fan of the Olympics. But at the same time, it's still really painful and disappointing because I had hoped to be there."
After winning a World Cup race in Germany last month, Adeagbo was on top of the world, knowing her Olympic hopes received a big boost from the win.
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"I'm super proud of this because this is the first time an African athlete, male or female, has ever won an International bobsled race," she said. "And my first thought was that I hope this is enough to qualify. Because then it just becomes a math problem."
But the math did not add up for Adeagbo to compete in Beijing. And she said that's because things are not equal.
"I think the intention [with monobob] was to add more opportunities for women," Adeagbo said, "but unfortunately it's actually still pretty unequal."
This week Adeagbo filed a formal complaint with the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) alleging gender discrimination. At the time of publication, a request for comment to the IBSF from WCNC Charlotte had not yet been answered.
Winston & Strawn LLP, which has a Charlotte office, is representing Adeagbo.
On its social media page, the firm says it "seeks to end discriminatory rules that limit female athletes' participation in the Olympics."
Adeagbo says she missed the games by one spot, and that there are far fewer spots for women than men.
"You still have a huge gender disparity there where men are really taking most of the qualification spots," Adeagbo said. "I'm bringing that up because I think that also made a difference in qualification. It's just twice or maybe even three times as hard for women to make it in bobsled just because the opportunities are just so limited."
Men are allocated 58 spots for bobsled, while women get 40 spots between bobsled and monobob.
But Adeagbo is not done competing, and trying to make a difference through her Simi Sleighs Foundation
"A big piece of our work is really looking at how we can support marginalized female athletes who are trying to get to the games themselves," she said.