African and Caribbean skiers unite at Olympics to call for more inclusion, support

(Reuters) – Six Olympic skiers joined by their parents, coaches and federation presidents came together on Sunday to advocate for more inclusion at the Winter Games.

Representing Jamaica, Kenya, Eritrea, Madagascar, South Africa and Benin, the group gathered in Bormio, where the men’s alpine races are taking place this year.

They were brought together by Henri Rivers III, coach of the Jamaica ski team and father of competing slalom skier Henri Rivers IV.

Rivers is also President of the National Brotherhood of Snowsport (NBS), an organisation that aims to support athletes of colour in snowsport.

He said a lot of the athletes gathered in Bormio rarely see skiers of colour when they train at home.

“Look at all these athletes that you’re looking at here. I can tell you, they probably train on a hill where they’re the only ones,” Rivers said of the group around him, made up largely of Black skiers.

He wanted to unite the athletes now to uplift each other but also to call for more inclusion and support for smaller nations, both from the International Olympic Committee and larger confederations.

ABOUT INCLUSION, NOT JUST RACING

Issa Gachingiri-Laborde, representing Kenya, has already completed his Olympic race. The 18-year-old finished 66th out of 73 athletes in the giant slalom, competing against the likes of ski giants Marco Odermatt and Lucas Pinheiro Braathen.

Standing by his side were his mother and father, who beamed with pride.

“It’s not just about racing,” his mother Josephine Laborde Gachingiri said of her son representing her native Kenya. “It’s just about inclusion. The Olympic motto says, ‘Inclusion.’

“So, I think when we talk about the Olympics, we talk about the whole world, we talk about (all) countries … every country has the (right) to be there. Even if they don’t have big points, even if they don’t have enough training, they do their best.”

‘WE’VE COME A LONG WAY’

“We’ve come a long way,” Rivers said of Black athletes competing in winter sports, pointing at the Jamaican bobsled team that made their ‘Cool Runnings’ debut in 1988.

“I’m not going to say we were the joke of the Olympics, but we didn’t fare well. This is 37, 38 years later, and we’re winning gold medals,” he said.

In 1984, Lamine Gueye was the first Black African skier to participate in the Winter Olympics. Today, 14 athletes representing African nations are competing – more than double the amount in 2022 in Beijing, many of them athletes of colour.

“It does take time. It is not an overnight success, but you’re going to see the same thing in alpine skiing with Jamaica,” Rivers said, “I would say in less than 16 years, you’re going to see some Black athletes on podiums.”

CALLING FOR MORE FINANCIAL SUPPORT

For many athletes representing smaller nations that do not have big budgets for winter sport, competing means extra hurdles and financial burdens.

Rivers said that while the Olympic Solidarity Fund has been very helpful, it’s still not enough.

“Without organisations like the NBS, we wouldn’t be able to fund some of these athletes. None of these athletes are really getting much aid from their countries,” he said.

“We need more financial support, more aid to get our athletes up on the stage.”

It is something the president of the Haitian ski federation, Jean Pierre Roy, is also well aware of.

This is only the nation’s second time at the Winter Olympics, with Richardson Viano in the slalom ski races and Stevenson Savart competing in cross-country skiing.

“It’s very hard work,” Roy said, “We don’t know if we’re going to still (be in) the next one because it costs a lot and we are a small nation. We don’t have much support.”

SUPPORTING EACH OTHER

Uniting together with the same goals, Rivers said, despite competing against each other, “Everybody has everybody’s back.”

Eritrea’s Shannon Abeda, competing for the third and last time at the Olympics, said meeting more skiers representing African and smaller nations this year has been special.

“It makes me feel less alone,” he said.

It is just as meaningful for Henri Rivers IV who is making his Olympic debut in the slalom on Monday. “Back home I feel like a Black kid, but now here I just feel like a kid, so it feels great knowing that I got other brothers here,” he said.

At only 18, he hopes his Olympic journey will continue at the French Alps 2030.

“If I hear any of these guys come out and qualify for their nation, I’ll be super happy knowing that I have another person of colour out there competing and racing, and that’s what I love,” said Rivers IV.

His dad, meanwhile, is set on continuing to work for more inclusion with the other representatives of Caribbean and African nations.

“We’re going to stay in contact. We’re going to start developing plans together and create a vital resource that all of the other nations can reach out to,” he said.