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Hi, I'm Emily Thomas from the Global News podcast, and as the Winter Olympics get underway in Italy,

we thought you'd enjoy hearing our podcast more than the score from the BBC World Service.

It tells sports stories from beyond the score sheetet and in this episode they're asking,

when will Africa win its first Winter Olympic medal? You can listen to the whole episode right here.

I hope you enjoy it. I'm Lee James and this is More Than the Score, the multi-sport global

podcasts from the BBC World Service that tells stories from beyond the score sheet.

More than 3,500 athletes from 93 countries will be competing for 195 medals at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games.

It's been over six decades since an African nation made its debut, but when were the continent win its first Winter Olympic medal?

The African nations of Benin and Guinea-Bissau will make their historic debuts at the

26 games, but with the established winter sport nations

such as Norway, the USA, Canada and Germany, looking to dominate the medal table once again,

how hard is it for new countries to compete on the world stage? South Africa is sending its

largest ever team with five athletes, but six decades since an African nation made its debut,

the continent's first medal remains elusive. We'll be joined by Africa's Slay Queen,

the Snow Leopard and the Snowbok. First of all, it's Simi Dele Adi Agbo, who became the first

Nigerian to compete at the Winter Olympics in 2018 and was the first black female Olympian in the sport of

skeleton, along with Matt Smith, who only took up the sport three years ago, and he's now going

to be South Africa's sole cross-country skier in the 2026 Olympics. Hello to you both. Welcome.

Thanks having me. Yeah, thanks for having me. Matt, first of all, you're only the 16th South

African in Winter Olympic history to qualify for the games.

What will representing your country at your first Olympics mean to you?

...