Getty Maame Biney made history as the first African-American women's speedskater to qualify for the Olympics.
Away from the rink, Maame Biney is a typical 18 year old, who is excited about her new iPhone, but it was her determination that allowed her to make history as the first African-American women’s speedskater to qualify for the Olympics. Biney has already enjoyed a lot of success, and is still months away from graduating from high school. USA speedskating short track coach Anthony Barthell noted Biney’s impact on the team goes beyond her performance on the ice thanks to her infectious personality.
“A Maame laugh, that just settles everyone down,” Barthell told CNN. “If I see that she’s tired and the morale’s starting to go down — the team, the chemistry’s just a little low, the atmosphere’s a little low for me — I’ll go up and crack a joke because I know it could be a horrible joke, but she’s going to be the one that laughs and everyone else starts recovering a little easier.”
Biney was born in Ghana, a place not known for producing prolific skaters, and has taken an unlikely path to make the Olympics. She learned to skate after her father Kweku Biney saw a sign for skating lessons, and Biney was unsure what her father meant by ice skating.
“I don’t think she really understood what I’m saying because she had never seen ice before,” Kweku Biney told CNN. “I was really scared because I thought she was going to fall and then break her head open because where we are from, there’s no ice. The only thing icy there is the cold beer.”
Biney ended up being too fast to be a figure skater, but this is a perfect problem to have when you are a speedskater. Biney turned her attention to speedskating, where she has been particularly lethal in the 500-meter race. Unfortunately, Biney was eliminated in the 500-meter quarterfinals during the 2018 Olympics, but has a promising future ahead.
Learn more about Biney’s path to the 2018 Olympics.
1. Biney Is the First African-American Women’s Speedskater to Qualify for the Olympics
17 years old & going to the #WinterOlympics! @BineyMaame should be everyone’s #MondayMotivation today! 🤗
Biney made history in December 2017 by becoming the first African-American woman to qualify for the American Olympic speedskating team. Her teammate Erin Jackson would follow her lead just a few months later.
According to The Washington Post, Biney plans to compete in both the 500 and 1500-meter races, but expects to perform the best in the 500-meter competition. She posted a personal best of 43.161 during the U.S. trials. Since arriving in the States, she has embraced the American culture.
“I was born in Ghana, so I am Ghanaian,” Biney told The Washington Post. “But I identify myself as American, because I’m here to represent America and do great things for America.”
2. Biney Is a High School Senior & Will Attend the University of Utah
Biney’s senior year of high school has been anything but typical. According to the Los Angeles Times, she spent the first half of her senior year living with a host family in Salt Lake City as she trained for the Olympics. After the Olympics, Biney will head back to Reston, Virginia to graduate from high school.
She has been accepted to the University of Utah, and will continue training with the national team during college. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, Biney has bettered her 500-meter time by more than a second since making the move.
“If I didn’t make this move [to Utah], I wouldn’t have made the team,” Biney told The Salt Lake City. “My experience has gotten a lot better. I’ve been to World Cups, and I’m skating against people who have been skating forever. It’s really helped. I think this is the best decision my dad and I have made together.”
3. Biney Is Originally From Ghana Where Her Mother Gina Still Lives Today
Biney’s father desired to moved to the United States, and headed to Maryland in 1985 after he had saved enough money. According to The Washington Post, the couple got married in the United States, but Biney’s mother Gina eventually moved back to Ghana where she was born.
When she was five, Biney went to visit her father in the United States, and fell in love with the country. By the second day of her trip, she was begging her father to let her stay in America. While she frequently talks on the phone to her mother, she has not visited Ghana since she was 14. Biney admits the separation has been difficult.
“It was really hard, and it is still kind of hard to deal with the fact that my mother’s not here to support or experience this with my dad and I,” Biney told The Washington Post. “. . . I’m a girl, and my dad’s a guy. He doesn’t really get some of the things that I go through, and I can’t really talk to him about certain things because it’s awkward.”
4. She Wants to be a Chemical Engineer After Her Skating Career Is Finished
GettyMaame Biney will attend the University of Utah after graduating high school.
Biney plans to study chemical engineering at Utah, but has her mind set on gold at the moment. She spoke with The Salt Lake Tribune about her goals outside of winning a gold medal.
“My goal in life is to obviously get the gold one day,” Biney spoke with The Salt Lake Tribune. “After that, I want to be a chemical engineer, and start a family, and be really happy in life, but I just want to go out there and have fun and experience this. This is my first Games.”
5. Biney Wants to Be Thought of For More Than Her Race & Believes the United States Is “Greater Than What One Person Says”
While Biney is excited to make history as the first African-American women’s speedskater, she notes those closest to her don’t think of her ethnicity.
“I have friends who accept me and who don’t think of me as being an African-American,” Biney told CNN. “They just think of me as being normal Maame or being human.”
Biney declined to speak about Donald Trump’s comments on immigration, but noted to The Salt Lake Tribune that the country is bigger than just one person’s beliefs.
“I’m aware of what [Trump] said,” Biney told The Salt Lake Tribune. “I’m just really focusing on my skating right now and just, like, going out there and representing the U.S. to the world and letting them know there is a bigger thing. … I want to show the world that one man’s words can’t represent this country. Our country is greater than what one person says.”
Her father is doing his best to keep his daughter away from the divisiveness of politics.
“I told her to never get into politics,” Kweku Biney told CNN. “It’s a dirty business. Sports, school, God — that’s it. No politics.”
