A Jacksonville athlete is racing toward Olympic history with a mission far bigger than just winning a medal. Eric Owusu, a skeleton athlete with Ghana in his heart, is proving that even the most uncommon dreams are worth fighting for.
A Jacksonville athlete is racing toward Olympic history with a mission far bigger than just winning a medal. Eric Owusu, a skeleton athlete with Ghana in his heart, is proving that even the most uncommon dreams are worth fighting for.
Owusu’s journey has been anything but ordinary.
“It’s something I told my athlete just walking in the dark and figuring it out,” Owusu said.
Left in Ghana at age three, bullied in school, and homeless during a freezing Chicago winter, Owusu never stopped chasing his Olympic dream.
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“So the main destination ever since I was 15 years old was the Olympics,” he shared.
Initially, Owusu’s vision was set on gymnastics when he moved to the United States at age eight. But after suffering two ruptured Achilles tendons, experiencing homelessness in his car, and dealing with an infected Achilles, he kept moving forward.
“So after two ruptured Achilles, being homeless in my car, dealing with an infected Achilles…” Owusu recounted.
Now, he’s training in the high-speed winter sport of skeleton, where athletes sprint, dive headfirst onto a sled, and rocket down icy tracks at speeds up to 80 miles an hour, pulling up to five G’s of force.
Demonstrating the difficulty of the sport, Owusu said, “So I have to run really fast and mount, and then I’m in.” He added, “I put my chest and then I use my spikes” to stop after a run.
The sport is typically dominated by cold-weather countries. But Owusu is doing it for Ghana and for those who’ve been overlooked.
“The more experience I got, I was like I really can’t do this even if I didn’t have the resources,” he said.
To help others like him, Owusu founded UncommonDreams Inc., a nonprofit that supports underfunded and underrepresented athletes.
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“So that way when I become and create a legacy, I can find the way for other uncommon athletes as well,” he explained.
Owusu’s goal is to become the second Ghanaian skeleton athlete to compete in the Winter Olympics in 2026. The first was Akwasi Frimpong, who competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics.
“If I can tell these athletes that if I can do it with nothing, literally nothing, you can do it too,” Owusu said.
Currently, Eric Owusu is seeking sponsors and support as he trains not just to compete, but to pave the way for others in the 2026 Winter Olympics.
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] UncommonDreams Inc., a nonprofit that
Category: General Sports
