Day 1, 2 and India

The 21st Winter Olympic Games is under way and even after 2 days, we have exciting performances, tragic moments and historic records made.

The Opening Ceremony was the first ever indoors at BC Place, temperature controlled at 70 degrees during the proceedings. Here, we get our first and often only look at our tropical and small nation athletes. We've profiled so far athletes from Mexico, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nepal, Pakistan and Bermuda. Each of these nations have sent one athlete to the games and it was those athletes who we saw on Friday night holding their nation's flag. Israel chose Alexandra Zaretsky, an ice dancer among a team of three Olympic veterans. The Brother, Christopher Papamichalopolous, of a Brother-Sister team held the flag for Cyprus.

The other big headline from the past few hours is the death of Georgian Luger, Nodar Kumaritashvili. It was the first death in Olympic competition since 1964 and the first luging death since 1975. As a result, his best friend and fellow luge competitor Levan Gureshidze has withdrawn from the competition leaving only Figure Skaters and Skiiers in Georgia's Olympic Delegation.


Luging has continued at the Olympics where we have "Chinese Taipei" (Taiwan), and India currently competing. Shiva Keshavan, pictured above and India's flag bearer for the opening is currently ranked 28th out of a field of 38th after two of four luge runs. Keshavan was born in the southern state of Kerala and took up winter sports in Italy during his university education. He began competing at in 1997 at the age of 16, was the youngest luger at Nagano in 1998. This year, he hopes to beat his best Olympic finish, 25th place set in 2006. In Vancouver, Keshavan as well as his three Olympic teammates, apline skier Jamyang Namigal and cross country skier Tashi Lundup, marched into the stadium with uniforms donated by the Indo-Canadian community in Vancouver. Maybe Russell Peters pitched in. We'll keep you posted on his progress, as well as Chinese Taipei's Ma Chih-Hung, through tomorrow.

India has had a long Summer Olympic history, with a dominant Field Hockey history. The national team has won eleven medals in twelve Olympic games between 1928 and 1980 and won 6 straight Olympic Gold Medals in Men's Field Hockey between 1928 and 1956, a record for any national team in any sport.

Finally, many of our tropical and small Olympic nations compete in downhill skiing, an even which was postponed till after Monday. Short Track Speed Skating has begun. We'll cover Hong Kong's female Speed Skater in the coming days. Nineteen year old J. R. Celski, competing for the United States, has also won a Bronze in short-track speed skating. He is half Filipino through his mother's side.

Let's hear it for India and all the athletes!

Israel and Cyprus at the 2010 Olympics

Israel has participated at nearly every Olympic Games since 1952, except for the boycott of 1980. The nation began winning medals at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and has won a medal every Summer Games since, mostly Bronzes in Judo, Sailing and Canoeing. In 2004, Gal Fridman won Israel's only Summer Olympic Gold Medal for Windsurfing in Athens. Fittingly, Gal means "wave" in Hebrew.

Israel has actually had better success in the Paralympic games. In 1968, Mexico decided against hosting both an Olympic and Paralympic games and the Paralympic games then was awarded to Tel Aviv. As the host nation, Israel took third in the medals table winning a total of 62 medals, 18 of them gold.

The Mediterranean nation has participated in every Winter Olympics since 1994. Many of its athletes were figure skaters born in the former Soviet Union. The tradition began with Misha Shmenkin. He competed in 1994 and 1998 and now coaches figure skating in Virgina. The Ice Dancing pair Chait and Sakhovski followed and competed in 1998, 2002 and 2006, pictured Right. Galit Chait actually grew up in New Jersey, first figure skating at the Rockefeller Center Ice Rink in New York City. She currently coaches the Zaretsky siblings who ice danced in 2006 and will ice dance again next Friday on the 19th of February in Vancouver. This pair is based with Chait in southern New Jersey.

The ice dancers are joined by Mikail Renzhin, making an entire team of three Olympic veterans. Let's hear it for Israel!

Just a short hop across the Mediterranean Sea lies balmy Cyprus. The nation has competed in every Summer and Winter Olympic Games since 1980 and has never won a medal. This year, brother and sister, Sophia and Christopher Papamichalopolou will compete in Vancouver. Sophia is picture on the left and is a 20 year old student at the American Academy in Larnaka. Cyprus actually contains a few ski resorts. This website contains a trail map and this link contains a live web cam shot of the slope.

Let's hear it for Cyprus!

Ghana at the Winter Olympics

On Friday, Ghana will make its Winter Olympic Debut in Vancouver. Ghana debuted at the 1952 Summer Olympic Games of Helsinki as the colony of Gold Coast and has competed every other time since except for 1956 and its boycotts of the 1976 and 1980. Ghana has medaled four times, never Gold, with Boxers in the 1960s and 1970s and has most recently won bronze with its Soccer team in 1992, Barcelona.

As Ghana's first Winter Olympic athlete, Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong is certainly making a splash as "The Snow Leopard." Nkrumah-Acheampong is 35 and was born in Scotland, before he moved to Ghana as a child. He was a safari guide before returning to Great Britain in the year 2000. He discovered the sport after becoming a secretary at a British ski center has since went on to found the Ghana Winter Olympic Association. He has secured funding from the government to build an artificial ski slope in the hills north of Accra and has attracted major attention from British news outlets and even sponsorship from Basecamp Adventure Sports group.

In a BBC interview he states that "The only thing we [Africans] have to overcome is the cold." For links with video, click here for his Mail Online piece and here for his BBC Sport piece. Let's hear it for Kwame and Ghana!

Nepal and Pakistan

The 21st Winter Olympic Games begins in 4 days. Next on the list of our tour of small or tropical nations are some quite cold ones beginning with Nepal. Sitting at the roof of the world, Nepal sure is frosty. However, the tiny nation only made its Asian Winter Games debut in 1999 and its Winter Olympic Games debut in 2002. These games featured Jay Khadka, a cross-country skier. It turns out that a British Millionare and hiker, Richard Morley, adopted Khadka when his father, a Nepalese Policeman, died saving his life while the hiker was in peril. Morley, who goes by Dahiji in Nepal, was also a skier and many years later served as team coach for his adoptive son at the 2002 Olympic Games. While Khadka is the first official Olympian from Nepal, the nation's participation in winter sports predates the Winter Olympics as Mountaineering was a semi-official sport in the 1924 Olympics. The Gold Medal won then was won with a team consisting of several Nepalese sherpas.

Dachhiri Sherpa participated in the 2006 Winter Olympic games and will again compete in this year's 15 km Cross C0untry Ski event. Literally born at the foot of the Himalayas, Sherpa has climbed Mt. Everest several times and hopes to improve on his 94th place finish in Torino. He is joined by Shyam Kumar-Dhakal who was selected by Coach Morley for his kick-boxing skill. He has competed in France, where Morley operates his training facility, for several years prefering the Super G event in down-hill skiing.

Nepal has competed in nearly every Summer Olympic games since 1964 and normally sends boxers.

Pakistan, conversely, has a strong Summer Olympic record. The nation first competed in the 1948 Olympic Games and through the 1950s and 1960s, the Pakistani Men's Field Hockey team traded First and Second place with their rival Indian Men's Field Hockey team winning Gold in 1960 and 1968. Their Field Hockey team has medaled in the sport as late as 1992, winning Bronze in Barcelona.

Muhammad Abbas, a 23 year old, will compete in Vancouver as Pakistan's first Winter Olympic Athlete. Abbas comes from the Balistan province, home of the famed Karakorum Mountains and K2, the second tallest mountain in the world. He is competing in the Giant Slalom when competition starts on February 21. Abbas was selected among eight Pakistani skiers who toured Europe on the dime of the Pakistani Military, who has offered financing and support. Pakistan is the home of the Naltar Ski resort, not far from Abbas' hometown.

Let's hear it for Pakistan!

Bermuda and the 2010 Olympics

Bermuda has participated in the Olympics since the 1936 Olympic Summer Games and won their only medal, a bronze, in the 1976 Olympic Summer Games, captured by boxer Clarence Hill.

In terms of Winter Olympics, Bermuda first sent their Winter Olympian, Simon Payne, in 1992. He competed in the luge then and again in 1994 where he reached 30th in Men's Singles. Today, he appears to practice law. The tiny, Atlantic nation then passed on its Luge prowess to Patrick Singleton, pictured on the left. Often sporting only the traditional Bermuda shorts in sub-zero temperatures, he has competed in every Winter Olympics since.

In 1998, he fell in love with Nagano and Japanese culture as a whole. There, here met skeleton racer Kazuhiro Koshi, who helped him switch from the luge. Both men have qualified for this year's Olympics. Mr. Payne switched to the skeleton in 2002 when it became an available Olympic sport, which literally means going head first, belly down on a bobsled/luge track rather than feet first, belly up on a sled.

In order to qualify for the skeleton this year, Mr. Singleton had to reach 60th in the world Skeleton rankings, the place he holds as he heads into Vancouver.

Mr. Payne is joined this year by Dartmouth prep-lad Tucker Murphy, who turns 29 this year. He represents Dartmouth's class of 2004 where he rowed as well as skied. Scientifically minded, he studied Biology in College and went on to earn a Rhodes Scholarship. He qualified under a cross-country rule stating that given his participation in the 2009 World Championships, he is able to represent Bermuda in the 15km sprint, an event that many of our small or tropical nations have entered.

Let's Hear it for Bermuda

Special Gomotopia Winter Olympic Coverage

The 21st Winter Olympic Games begin on February 12th, 2010 in Vancouver and a total of over 80 nations will participate. While many headlines will be written about Germany, the US, Austria, Russia and Canada, all countries with lots of snow and who performed well in 2006, I will begin my coverage on smaller and tropical nations taking part at the Olympics.

The history of random nations at the Winter Olympics begins with Mexico at the 1928 Olympic games in St. Moritz, Switzerland. A four man team participated and finished 11th out of 28. Since then, it took 56 years for Mexico to participate again with the entry of Prince Hubertus of Hohenlohe-Langenburg in 1984. Born in Mexico City, Andy Himalaya is descended from German Royalty and at several times was an Alpine Skier, Photographer, Pop Singer and all-around hustler. He participates again this year in 2010, in his words, upholding the tradition of "exotic skiers." Here's a video documenting his long career, including a visit to Andy Warhol's factory and his "coolest downhill suit" the Desperado in 2006.

This year, together with Mexico, I'll be covering 19 warm or otherwise small countries participating in Vancouver. While the list of attendant nations is still up in the air, Wikipedia reports that Cayman Islands, Colombia, Ghana, Montenegro, Pakistan, Peru and Serbia are competing for the first time. While, Montenegrins and Serbians have participated under different flags, we celebrate these new nations, all sending skiiers.

Following Mexico's example, the fate of a whole nation at the Olympic Games is often placed on the shoulders of one athlete who qualifies over and over. Ethiopia made its Olympic debut in 2006 with Robel Zemichael Teklemariam [link with video], a cross country skiing instructor from Colorado who had to ask his brother to run the 2-man Ethiopian Skiing Association. Be his fan on Facebook.



Other nations chose to concentrate on specific sports. Hong Kong has short-track speed skating and Nepal, a quite snowy country, sends cross-country skiiers.

Brazil, Bermuda, Cyprus, Monaco and Chinese Taipei have participated consistently through the 1980s. South Africa participated once in 1960 and again consistently since the 1990s after its post-Apartheid reentry. Portugal, Morocco, India has participated on and off since 1952 and 1960 and 1964 respectively.

And sadly, while Jamaica is sending a cross-country skiier, its Bobsled team may sit out the Olympic team one more time.

DC Math, Science and Technology Fair

Logo for my office's D.C. Math, Science and Technology fair, March 2010.