From a certain point of view, the Beijing Winter Olympics can be called a winter clothing exhibition site, but the American Samoa team, which is not wearing an upper body and only painted with oil, has attracted more attention, and they have followed the glorious traditions of Pacific island countries such as Tonga and Vanuatu, and perfectly interpreted the aesthetic principle of "less is more". And what they're less about isn't just about the costumes, it's about the size of the team — the bare-chested flag-bearer is the only american samoa to compete, just six months ago, after the men's 100-meter run at the Summer Olympics.
This is the shape of the Summer Olympics
In the Olympic games, similar small countries are particularly numerous, in addition to the number of participants can be counted on one hand, these small countries often do not accumulate snow, not even a flat ice rink, but they still sent a Winter Olympic delegation, which can be described as the best representative of the spirit of "emphasis on participation". After all, American Samoa's previous most out-of-the-loop sports news was a 31-0 injection by the Australian men's football team.
For example, Costa Rica, the first tropical country to participate in the Winter Olympics, stepped onto the Winter Olympic stage for the first time in 1980 after participating in five Summer Olympic Games, and Arturo Ginchi was the only participant, he participated in the men's downhill and giant slalom competitions in alpine skiing, Kinchi skated to 41st place in the men's downhill, and in the more difficult big slalom, he did not even skate through the first round.
Of course, this is also expected, Kinchi was originally a footballer, he came into contact with the sport of skiing in the offseason, at first to maintain his body shape, but When he stepped on the snow field, Kinchi seemed to open up a new world, and he spent two years convincing the authorities to establish the Costa Rican Ski Federation, and he was president by himself. Kinch competed in five Olympic Games until Turin in 2006.
Grandpa Kinchi, president of the Costa Rican Ski Association
In 2006, Ginchi, who turned 50 two months later, remained Costa Rica's only contestant and opening ceremony flag bearer, accompanied by several Costa Rican officials, a doctor, a masseuse and his fiancée. For 26 years, he had paid for all his travel and training trips to the Olympics, and on this trip to Turin alone, Mr. had to pay $15,000 out of pocket. But Gingie clearly has a more focused goal: "In 1980, I was only 41st, but 26 years later, I skated my Olympic best. In Turin, Kinchi is 50 years old in two months, and his smile is full of wrinkles and pride.
There are many more examples like this, such as Ethiopia's Robert-Remarian, who is also a solo athlete, and Remarian has single-handedly established his own ski association (in order to make up the numbers, he also pulled his own brothers). Pravat, who was born in Thailand, is a computer professor, but out of his love of skiing, he also persuaded the Thai government to set up a Winter Olympic Committee and let himself participate in the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics as the only player in the Thai delegation.
Thai computer professor Pravat
Such players often have a wealth of tortuous professional experiences. Guam's only boy, Bankert, competed in biathlon at the 1988 Winter Olympics – he didn't ski until four months before the Start of the Winter Olympics due to a hip fracture. In the end, the 38-year-old Bankert missed target 8 times out of 10 shots, ranking 71st out of 72 players.
Fiji's only child, Rogoyava, learned to ski while studying electrical engineering in Oslo, and he represented Fiji in two Winter Olympics. After Rogoyava retired in the early 21st century, Fijians had more ideas: they posted "recruitment ads" inviting young skiers to join the national team, and Lawrence Thomas, who had just turned 20, saw the ad and signed up. Fiji continued its ice heritage, with a Fully Funded Swedish businessman living in Fiji, and Lawrence finally finished 55th in the Men's Grand Slalom event, setting a new record for Fiji's best at the Winter Olympics.
Fiji skiing grandmaster Rogoyava
For these small countries that don't see snow, the quickest way to participate in the Winter Olympics is to find a player who likes to ski and has national ancestry and let them participate in alpine skiing competitions. Alpine skiing for the Winter Olympics, just as athletics for the Summer Olympics, is the "mass event" with the lowest threshold for participation. Theoretically, as long as you can skate through the snow and get the citizenship of these small tropical countries, you can also participate in the Winter Olympics and even have a chance to become a standard-bearer.
However, representing these countries is not an easy task, and Egypt's El-Ridi is a typical example. He became a ski enthusiast under his father's guidance, and at the age of 18, Riddy was elected to the Egyptian delegation. As the only athlete, in addition to training hard, Riddy also carried out special training of spiritual will - he found a cave full of snakes and scorpions in Egypt and stayed in it for 40 days. Although this did not prevent him from finishing second from the bottom in the men's downhill race and falling out of the men's big slalom, this slightly embarrassing result is still his and Egypt's Winter Olympic memory.
Egyptian prophet Reedy practicing in the Scorpion Cave (left)
Madagascar's ice and snow seedling, Mathieu, has a grander mission: to bring the international community's attention to the African island nation. His brother runs a non-profit organization that supports Mathieu's journey to Turin in this way. In the Men's Giant Slalom at the Olympics, Mathieu's level improved visibly, ranking 39th overall, higher than China's Li Guangxu and a Kyrgyzstani athlete, as well as more than three dozen others who did not finish the race.
Senegal's Lamin-Guye had a heavier experience, and in 1984, As Senegal's only seed and first Winter Olympic player, Heyer participated in the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. He was the first black African to participate in the Winter Olympics — a record that could have been broken by South Africa in 1960, but South Africa was in apartheid at the time, and they sent whites.
Gaye, who arrived at the Olympic Village for the first time, was excited: "It's like a child visiting Disney for the first time." Against this historical backdrop of black, white and blood, the symbolic value of Gaye's participation expanded to infinity, and he was welcomed by everyone at the Winter Olympics. As Senegal's standard-bearer, he entered between the two largest delegations, the United States and the Soviet Union.
But the only thing that wasn't friendly to Guye was the project itself, which took part in both the men's rappel and the big slalom: "In Senegal, we don't have the word 'downhill' because we don't have mountains. I was so scared that I almost threw up. However, Gaiye still insisted on finishing the whole game, and accepted the post-game interview with his limbs intact, "It seems that I have fully tested the safety measures of the Winter Olympics, so to speak, these measures are effective." ”
Gaye, who would not go downhill, wrote an imposing open letter to then-IOC President Rogge years later, angrily denouncing the Winter Olympics' reduction in the number of African participants as "discrimination"
In addition to these "one-man" teams, North Korea was also a miracle at the Winter Olympics. As early as 1964, North Korea participated in the Winter Olympics for the first time, and surprisingly, North Korea did not fight, but prepared, speed skater Han Bihua won the women's 3,000 meters silver medal. Whether it's the time to participate in the Winter Olympics or the time to win medals, North Korea has taken a big step ahead of the "big brother" next door.
Of course, this is also the debut of the North Korean team and Han Bihua himself , the peak - in addition to this Olympic silver medal, North Korea's best result in the individual competition is "only" third. The second Winter Olympic medal in the history of the North Korean team will wait until 28 years later.
North Korea's "flower of the silver plate", Han Bi-hwa, her brother Han Bi-sheng, was left in the south during the war to become a Korean, and the two did not meet again until 1990 at the Sapporo Yadong Association
Another team that "small countries make big news" is the Jamaican Bobsleigh Team in 1988. This is Jamaica's first time participating in the Winter Olympics, and they did not choose alpine skiing, but chose double and four-person sledding with the financial support of American companies. The four players, all from the Jamaica Defence Force, finished 30th in the two-person event and fell to the bottom of the four-man event due to the crash, but the youngsters still attracted the attention of the world, and the broadcaster even broadcast their four-person bobsleigh race throughout the whole process. In 1993, the movie "Light On Ice", based on the Jamaican bobsleigh team, was released, which is also a legend.
But there are also not so small countries that are not so famous at the Winter Olympics, and Portugal, an old capitalist country with a population of 10 million, only sent one alpine skier to compete in 1952. As if feeling that the overall result of the sixth-to-last athlete was not satisfactory, or that he was not interested in winter sports, Portugal did not send a Winter Olympic delegation for 36 years. In 1988, Portugal sent five runners to participate in the steel frame bobsleigh event. Since then, the number of players in the Portuguese delegation has never exceeded 2, and at the Beijing Winter Olympics, Portugal has sent an astonishing number of 3 players, setting a new high in 34 years.
Behind the momentum are the Portuguese coaches and support staff
However, athletes from these countries have at least appeared at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, and the heroes of American Samoa are also only one athlete on the U.S. Virgin Islands team, but this athlete cannot attend the opening ceremony because of his positive new crown, and has to be replaced by a Winter Olympic volunteer as a flag bearer.
In this era of politicization and entertainment in sports, people always want to pin their hearts on something pure. Perhaps, from these small countries and single-seed athletes of the Winter Olympics, we can feel the purest sports, dreams and love. Like the torch tower of the Beijing Winter Olympics, although the flame is small, it is a piece of ice center of the world.