The Winter Games circus isn’t likely to descend on Islamabad, Sao Paulo, Mexico City or Wellington any time soon.
But that hasn’t deterred exotic giant slalom snowbirds from countries as diverse as Pakistan, Brazil and New Zealand from fulfilling their Olympic dreams.
While Carlo Janka, Romed Baumann and Aksel Lund Svindal fought it out for gold on the Dave Murray slope on Tuesday at Creekside, Whistler, a small army of no-hopers had a different, if no less modest ambition — put their respective nations on the ski map.
Leading the charge of the not-so-well-known brigade was Muhammad Abbas, a 24-year-old from Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan, who began his ski adventure by strapping two pine planks onto rubber boots.
Now, here he was in the spotlight — at least for the 1min, 38.27sec it took him to complete the course.
It might have left him in 87th place but Abbas didn’t care about that, as he proved that participation is what it’s all about, unless you’re a medal candidate.
“I am very happy. Pakistan is for the first time in the Olympics. I am the first for Pakistan,” he beamed.
The entry rules are more relaxed for the giant slalom and the slalom than the speed events, hence five dozen countries — including the Cayman Islands and Brazil — were represented in Tuesday’s race.
As International Ski Federation (FIS) official Sarah Fussekit explained ahead of the race, the idea is to grow the Olympic ski family.
“Many athletes would not be competing if not for the training camps run with the program,” said Fussek, who coordinates the FIS’s Aid and Promotion Program.
Financial support is given to FIS member national ski associations, training camps and other activities are run and FIS Solidarity funds special projects.
Those activities ensured that 103 athletes began the race representing 64 National Olympic Committees, compared with 64 representing 28 NOCs in the men’s downhill — a discipline for which qualifying is far stricter.
FIS communications manager Riika Racik said that while the focus will always be on the medals and the champions, the Olympic goal is to open the door to newcomers who show burgeoning talent even if they are from countries which never see any snow.
“FIS policies aim to achieve a balance between high-performance athleticism and the expansion of participating nations,” Racik said.
Some national federations from the more exotic nations such as Peru and Mexico are not yet affiliated to the world ruling body.
That means some young hopefuls go their own way, and Tuesday saw two 16-year-olds given their chance: German-Pervian Manfred Oettl Reyes and Ghassan Achi, an American-based Lebanese who also has French roots.
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