nigeria has never competed in the winter olympics. but next week the country will make history by entering a female bobsleigh team for the games in south korea. they are the first nigerian athletes to qualify for the winter olympics and they've had to raise their own money to get there. alex capstick went to meet them at their training camp in america. we are the nigerian women's bobsleigh team. we are the first team from the country of nigeria... the first team from the continent of africa... and the first team to be represented in the winter olympics in the sport of bobsleigh... ..in pyeongchang. they're known as the ice blazers, going where no african has gone before. heading to a bobsleigh track at the olympics. the opening ceremony, that would be really cool. we were just like, gosh, we are carrying the nigerian flag in a winter olympics. gosh! born in america, like her team—mates, seun adigun qualifies for nigeria through her parents, and it all began in her garage in houston with

a home—made wooden sled. cool running! the exploits of the jamaican men's team at the calgary olympics in 1988 inspired a hollywood movie. comparisons are inevitable. it's really honourable, to say the least, that 30 years later people are still singing their praises, and to say that we are along that same path of what people consider to be legendary is really humbling and it's an honour to receive. just over a year ago, seun recruited two team—mates who take it in turns to sit behind the driver. they knew nothing about the sport and its risks. after going to whistler, that's the fastest track in the world, it was like, ok, this sport is actually pretty dangerous. you know, like people can get seriously hurt. behind all the excitement, the fun, the global exposure, is a group of women who have no desire to be considered a novelty act. rank outsiders, yes,

but they also want to be taken seriously in their bid to set a new benchmark for africa at the winter olympics. people didn't think we had a chance to make it to the olympics so i think when you talk about things like that, anything can happen and we are here to compete. the team know they are unlikely to become the first africans to stand on the podium at a winter games but they also know the olympics is about more than just medals. alex ca pstick, bbc news, lake placid. here on bbc one it's time for the news where you are. hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm reshmin chowdhury. the headlines tonight: 28 russian athletes get their olympic lifetime bans overturned — but what does that mean for the fight against doping? stretchered offjust minutes after kickoff in a crunch wsl tie between manchester city and chelsea. and the superleague kicked off in style tonight — as defending champions leeds got their campaign under way with got their campaign under way

with victory over warrington wolves. 28 russian athletes have had their olympic life bans overturned by the court of arbitraition for sport in a case which could have far reaching consequences in the fight against doping. it could now pave the way for legal action, as they attempt to join other russian athletes who've been cleared to compete as neutrals at the winter olympics in pyongchang. the world anti—doping agency siad it viewed the court of arbitration‘s decisions with serious concern. olivia crellin reports. olympic athletes from russia. that is the official title of the 169 athletes who have arrived to compete in this month's pyeongchang winter olympics as so—called winter olympics. there was a long

investigation into what they concluded was an unprecedented system manipulation of the anti—doping system at the 2014 sochi winter olympics. of whistle—blower from the head of russia's collaboratively revealed how dirty samples had been swapped for a clean ones. today, the issue was reopened, upholding 28 appeals and partially upholding 28 appeals and partially upholding the remaining 11. were unanimously found the evidence put forward by the ioc to this matter did not have the same weight in each individual case. this does not mean that these 28 athletes are declared innocent, but in that case, due to insufficient evidence, the appeals upheld. as a consequence, the cleared athletes have had their lifetime bans revoked, sanctions and

old and individual results the achieved in sochi reinstated. the ioc expressed both its satisfaction and disappointment at the appeals. it may have significant impact in the future fight against doping. we will consider consequences, including an appeal to the swiss federal tribunal. for now, the announcement is federal tribunal. for now, the announcement is a federal tribunal. for now, the announcement is a sweet victory for the russian state which has repeatedly denied any involvement in the doping, and for those cleared. translation: we have waited for the decision for a long time. we were hoping forjustice decision for a long time. we were hoping for justice and decision for a long time. we were hoping forjustice and it has prevailed. it is a matter of my life, what i do. when you are accused of that, it is very unpleasant and everything falls apart. we hope still to make it to

these olympic games. with a deadline to compete long past, that looks unlikely. as we were hearing in that report the court of arbitration of sport have decided to partially uphold 11 other bans, but those athletes will now only miss this month's games and not face a lifetime suspensions. however, the reviews mean that britain's four—man bobsleigh team from sochi will be upgraded to a bronze medal. it's starting to sink in, even more so than it was. i think the ultimate will be holding that medal, should they reallocate them. that's when i will proud of our achievements, truly. uk sport have announced that millions of pounds will be invested into new sports like para taekwondo and karate and for athletes with strong potential to win medals at the tokyo olympics in 2020. there's also a partial reprieve for some sports that originally lost theirfunding. including badminton — with certain athletes getting a slice of the £2.5 million. uk sport have recognised we have

that potential. gets backing is positive news. a good day at the office. it is a real confidence booster for you? we have always had a belief in ourselves, but having backing from uk sport, to get that medal and all are hard work rewarded by uk sport, it is a really positive step and we are very happy about that. phil neville watched on as his number one was stretchered off and sent to hospitalfor number one was stretchered off and sent to hospital for an x—ray on her shoulder. will manchester city keep their lead at the top of the table, but karen

bradley was stretchered off in the opening two minutes, after landing awkwardly on her leg and sustaining what looked to be a very painful injury. in the second half, she was followed by steph horton, the england captain, who limped off with what looked to be a painful problem with her left foot. this match only really kicked into life in the final 15 minutes when chelsea dealt with wave after wave of shots. it takes manchester city's tally of unbeaten matches this season to 18. both teams this weekend turned their attention to the fa cup campaigns. stewart regan has stepped down as scottish football association chief executive after eight years in thejob. regan said he recognised the need for change. scotland missed out on qualification for the world cup and have so far failed to find a replacement for previous manager gordon strachan.

which a former sfa chief executive described as an embarrassment. gary caldwell, a former wigan boss and scotland defender, applied for the job earlier today. west ham united have suspended their director of player recruitment after a national newspaper reported he had said that they wanted to limit the number of african players at the club because they have a bad attitude and cause mayhem when not selected. in a statement today the club confirmed that director of player recruitment tony henry has been suspended pending a full and thorough investigation. west ham united will not tolerate any type of discrimination and has, therefore, acted swiftly due to the serious nature of these claims. ben stokes has been named in england's15—man squad for the five—match odi series against new zealand, but his involvement is subject to the outcome of any court proceedings. the all—rounder is due to appear before bristol magistrates on 13 february on charges of affray relating to an incident outside a city nightclub,

but that is just 12 days before the series kicks off. the ecb have said they will review the case prior to the start of the series. here is a list in full and it is pretty much as expected. eoin morgan continues as captain following england's 4—1 defeat of australia in their one—day series after the ashes defeat. david malan, who replaced stokes in the side but didn't play, is a notable omission. bowler jake ball has also been dropped. kyle edmund is set to miss great britain's davis cup tie against spain in marbella which starts on friday. he developed a hip injury during last week's australian open semifinal defeat by marin cilic. and said yesterday that he intended to play but in the end wasn't named in the singles or doubles. however, he remains in the squad and could be drafted in to play should his injury situation improve. the new super league season got under way this

eveing with two matches. hull fc comfortably beat huddersfield giants 38 points to 12. defending champions leeds rhinos kicked off with a 16—12 point win over warrington wolves — that's despite losing captain chris hill, after his wife went into labour at the game. tim hague reports. february begins with the start of the super league season. champions league zawiya warrington, neither side was keen to take things easy, but beyond the rough and tumble, leeds let their quality shine through. too good in the first 30 and two tries to the good. it meant warrington needed to get up close and personal to the try and quickly, which they duly did. only for leads to go clear again. ryan hall is one of the world's finalist winners. and he showed exactly with this. warrington dominated afterwords. rowan atkinson and has scored. tom white number ended to make it a

4—point game. there wasn't enough time for the hosts. lead time on. with fiery february under way, you wouldn't bet against the rhinos creating more fireworks this season. kris helgen randomly ran off during the game and we have now found out why. he was heading to hospital to join his wife who had gone into labour. priorities of course change! jacob stockdale, bundee aki and james ryan will make their six nations debuts when ireland face france in paris on saturday. ireland bossjoe schmidt has picked an experienced side for the stade de france clash, with rory best captaining a side containing 11 british & irish lions. that's all from sportsday. coming up in a moment, the papers. hello and welcome to our look ahead

to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are the ft‘s political correspondent laura hughes and charlie wells, who's deputy snapcha editor at the economist. many of tomorrow's front pages are already in. we can walk you through them. the i has the headline are guilty of murder at the mosque. prince harry and meghan markle attempt i first

evening function together. compensation payoffs must be cut or the nhs will go bust. the mirror says its own poll shows that 70% of us says its own poll shows that 70% of us would pay more to save the nhs. and the guardian claims labourers in forcing landowners to give up sites at knock—down prices to build more council houses. brussels has lined up council houses. brussels has lined up sanctions to stop britain undercutting the eu economy, that's the lead in the financial times. and the lead in the financial times. and the express newspaper reports that snoring raises your risk of dementia. bit of a mixed bag on the front pages! prince harry and meghan markle make headlines on several of them. what we start with the very serious one. the metro newspaper say devious and hate filled, the verdict coming in today on darren osborne. tell us more about this story. this

is the moment this man crashed into a mosque and killed one man. the jury a mosque and killed one man. the jury decided very quickly he was guilty. one of the more shocking things that came out of it was he had been radicalised injust three weeks. it's claimed he