For a Venezuelan skier who had only trained on wheels beneath a bright sun, the slopes of Finland proved a mighty challenge.
Adrian Solano wobbled nervously backward as he exited the starting gate at the Lahti2017 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships this week.
He fumbled into the white powder after sliding down a small hill and tried awkwardly walking up an incline while others raced by him.
Photo: AP
By Thursday, sports commentators circulating videos of his near-comedic performance online had dubbed him the worst skier alive.
However, Solano teetered along, unfazed by the criticism.
“From here to the Olympics,” he said in an interview with Norwegian tabloid Dagbladet.
Solano’s saga has hit a nerve among Venezuelans and angered the nation’s highest officials, who are denouncing France for deporting the athlete in January while he was trying to get to Sweden to train on snow.
Airport migration officials in Paris reportedly doubted his story, thinking his journey to the slopes was a ploy to leave his socialist country.
“We will issue a strong statement to the French government for their affront against a Venezuelan athlete,” Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs Delcy Rodriguez said on Twitter on Wednesday.
Stuck in Caracas, Solano got to Finland just in time to compete after supporters started a GoFundMe page that funded the trip.
The only problem: He had not practiced skiing on snow, only on wheels in Venezuela’s scorching heat.
In the first race, a 10km qualifying round, Solano failed to finish. He completed the first 3.5km in 37 minutes, 39 seconds — the same time it took other competitors to finish the entire course.
In the 1.6km cross-country sprint he finished last in 156th place.
“Embarrassing,” wrote one critic on his Instagram page, accusing Solano of receiving sponsorship from the Venezuelan government while countless numbers go hungry.
“My friend, I swear I am not here because of the government,” Solano wrote in response. “I arrived thanks to people who heard my story and supported me.”
Still, many others are rallying to support Solano and his dream of one day waving the Venezuelan flag at the Winter Olympics.
“I achieved a dream,” he said in his interview with the Norwegian newspaper. “This pushes me to try more every day.”
Venezuela have sent seven athletes to four Winter Olympics since 1998, winning no medals.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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