Mariama Jamanka

Mariama Jamanka

File:2018-02-26 Frankfurt Flughafen Ankunft Olympiamannschaft-6039.jpg Jamanka in 2018
Personal information
Nationality	German
Born	(1990-08-23) 23 August 1990 West Berlin, West Germany
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	73 kg (161 lb)
Sport
Country	Germany
Sport	Bobsleigh
Event(s)	Two-woman
Club	BRC Thüringen
Turned pro	2012
Medal record Olympic Games 2018 Pyeongchang Two-woman 2022 Beijing Two-woman World Championships 2017 Königssee Mixed team 2019 Whistler Two-woman European Championships 2017 Winterberg Two-woman 2019 Königssee Two-woman 2022 St. Moritz Monobob 2018 Innsbruck-Igls Two-woman 2022 St. Moritz Two-woman 2021 Winterberg Two-woman

Mariama Jamanka (born 23 August 1990) is a retired German bobsledder who won Gold in the two-woman event with Lisa Buckwitz at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Career

A former discus and hammer thrower of Berlin, Jamanka became a bobsledder in 2013. She entered the Bobsleigh World Cup during the 2015–16 season. In January 2017, she won the European Championship in Winterberg with brakewoman Annika Drazek. Later the same year, she was part of the gold-winning German team in the mixed team event at the IBSF World Championships in Königssee.

Before the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Germany's head coach René Spies changed the brakewomen of the country's two leading two-women bobsleighs: Drazek was assigned to pilot Stephanie Schneider, while Jamanka had to work with Schneider's former brakewoman Lisa Buckwitz, with Schneider and Drazek being the most aspiring German team for the Pyeongchang Games. However, Jamanka and Buckwitz won the event, winning Germany's first two-woman bobsleigh medal since 2006, while Schneider and Drazek, who both became injured during the Games, finished fourth.

Jamanka announced her retirement from the sport in April 2022.

Personal

Mariama's mother is German, and her father is from the Gambia.