ximmy
1st March 2017, 01:18 PM
Until arriving at the competition this week, Solano, a Venezuelan, had never set foot on, nor even seen, snow.
http://giffetteria.it/archivio/solano.gif
http://img.reblog.hu/blogs/25448/sielo3098932.gif?w=670
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-neNiIRHWQ
A new name may have been added to the list of plucky but noncompetitive winter sportsmen — a ledger that includes Eddie the Eagle (Michael Edwards) and the 1988 Jamaican Olympic bobsled team — after Adrian Solano wobbled his way onto and then around the course this week at the Nordic world ski championships in Lahti, Finland. Commentators who witnessed his every fall there quickly called him the “world’s worst skier ever.”
To anyone aware of his back story, however, the reason behind his shakiness was understandable: Until arriving at the competition this week, Solano, a Venezuelan, had never set foot on, nor even seen, snow. Until his debut, Solano, 22, carried out all his training for the championships on wheels under the blazing South American sun.
In his opening event, the cross-country 10-kilometer in a qualifying round on Wednesday, Solano wore Bib No. 1 and was first out of the gate. He lost his balance almost immediately, proceeding to fall on the descents and to perform variations of the splits on the inclines, persistently losing his footing.
After completing the first 3.5 kilometers in 39 minutes 37 seconds — roughly the same amount of time it took the other competitors to complete the entire 10-kilometer course — Solano decided to call it a day, retiring from the event altogether.
“The most difficult part was going uphill; it required a lot of energy and was exhausting,” Solano said in a telephone interview through a translator on Friday. “This is a very unconventional thing and everything is so new. But I am a very daring person.”
Simply getting to the championships was a struggle for Solano, who works as a cook in Maracay, Venezuela. He decided to take up roller skiing about a year ago, basing his decision on simply being someone who likes “trying difficult things.” Under the guidance of César Baena, a Venezuelan cross-country skier who was able to provide him with equipment, he practiced for five hours a day on weekends in hopes of one day representing Venezuela on actual powder, and perhaps at the Olympics.
In preparation for the conditions in Finland, Solano planned to spend a month training in Sweden to familiarize himself with snow. When he arrived in Paris on Jan. 19, however, airport officials reportedly doubted Solano’s story (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-39063688) of being a professional skier and delayed his entry. With only 28 euros in cash and having faced questioning for five days, Solano said, he decided to return to Venezuela.
“My expectations were to train and finish in a good place at the competition,” Solano said. “But that got broken the minute I didn’t get to Sweden.” This week, Venezuela’s foreign minister, Delcy Rodríguez, wrote on Twitter that the country would issue a strong statement (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-39063688) to the French government over Solano’s experience.
As the skier’s troubles received news media attention in the Nordic countries, one reader, Aleksi Valavuori, a sports and television personality in Finland, saw Solano’s story and decided to contact Baena, the coach, through event organizers and offer his support.
“I felt somebody had to react on it because the story was so unfair,” Valavuori said. “Someone from pretty poor conditions had a dream, he was already in Paris, and that dream was taken away for him.”
Valavuori and Baena first spoke on Monday and figured out that if they could raise enough money for Solano’s airfare and accommodation, the skier could still take one of the latest possible flights out of Venezuela and make his first event on Wednesday afternoon.
After setting up a GoFundMe page on Monday just after 5 p.m., local time, Valavuori turned to his more than 100,000 followers on social media. In about three hours, the campaign amassed the 2,000 euros Solano needed at least to buy his airfare, and the skier boarded a flight to Finland. (The campaign eventually reached its overall goal of 4,000 euros, and three main sponsors have since helped with Solano’s expenses.)
“When he arrived, it was like love at first sight with everybody,” Valavuori said. “But he only told me about having not seen snow after he got here.”
Having failed to finish the first event, Solano set a goal of simply completing his second and final race, the 1.6-kilometer cross-country sprint. He placed 156th — last — but was all smiles.
“We have a success culture that sports is only great if you succeed,” Valavuori said. “I want to get rid of that. You get some wins, you get some losses. But there are so many other things in sports. It’s all about the story.”
On Friday, Solano announced his intention to raise money for Finnish junior skiing as a thank you to those who helped finance his trip to Lahti. He also said he planned to continue skiing in Venezuela and hoped to practice more frequently on snow. His long-term goal is to compete in the 2022 Winter Olympics.
“The part I actually enjoyed the most was falling down,” Solano said of his experience this week, “because now I am more motivated to get up and keep achieving my goal.”
http://giffetteria.it/archivio/solano.gif
http://img.reblog.hu/blogs/25448/sielo3098932.gif?w=670
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-neNiIRHWQ
A new name may have been added to the list of plucky but noncompetitive winter sportsmen — a ledger that includes Eddie the Eagle (Michael Edwards) and the 1988 Jamaican Olympic bobsled team — after Adrian Solano wobbled his way onto and then around the course this week at the Nordic world ski championships in Lahti, Finland. Commentators who witnessed his every fall there quickly called him the “world’s worst skier ever.”
To anyone aware of his back story, however, the reason behind his shakiness was understandable: Until arriving at the competition this week, Solano, a Venezuelan, had never set foot on, nor even seen, snow. Until his debut, Solano, 22, carried out all his training for the championships on wheels under the blazing South American sun.
In his opening event, the cross-country 10-kilometer in a qualifying round on Wednesday, Solano wore Bib No. 1 and was first out of the gate. He lost his balance almost immediately, proceeding to fall on the descents and to perform variations of the splits on the inclines, persistently losing his footing.
After completing the first 3.5 kilometers in 39 minutes 37 seconds — roughly the same amount of time it took the other competitors to complete the entire 10-kilometer course — Solano decided to call it a day, retiring from the event altogether.
“The most difficult part was going uphill; it required a lot of energy and was exhausting,” Solano said in a telephone interview through a translator on Friday. “This is a very unconventional thing and everything is so new. But I am a very daring person.”
Simply getting to the championships was a struggle for Solano, who works as a cook in Maracay, Venezuela. He decided to take up roller skiing about a year ago, basing his decision on simply being someone who likes “trying difficult things.” Under the guidance of César Baena, a Venezuelan cross-country skier who was able to provide him with equipment, he practiced for five hours a day on weekends in hopes of one day representing Venezuela on actual powder, and perhaps at the Olympics.
In preparation for the conditions in Finland, Solano planned to spend a month training in Sweden to familiarize himself with snow. When he arrived in Paris on Jan. 19, however, airport officials reportedly doubted Solano’s story (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-39063688) of being a professional skier and delayed his entry. With only 28 euros in cash and having faced questioning for five days, Solano said, he decided to return to Venezuela.
“My expectations were to train and finish in a good place at the competition,” Solano said. “But that got broken the minute I didn’t get to Sweden.” This week, Venezuela’s foreign minister, Delcy Rodríguez, wrote on Twitter that the country would issue a strong statement (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-39063688) to the French government over Solano’s experience.
As the skier’s troubles received news media attention in the Nordic countries, one reader, Aleksi Valavuori, a sports and television personality in Finland, saw Solano’s story and decided to contact Baena, the coach, through event organizers and offer his support.
“I felt somebody had to react on it because the story was so unfair,” Valavuori said. “Someone from pretty poor conditions had a dream, he was already in Paris, and that dream was taken away for him.”
Valavuori and Baena first spoke on Monday and figured out that if they could raise enough money for Solano’s airfare and accommodation, the skier could still take one of the latest possible flights out of Venezuela and make his first event on Wednesday afternoon.
After setting up a GoFundMe page on Monday just after 5 p.m., local time, Valavuori turned to his more than 100,000 followers on social media. In about three hours, the campaign amassed the 2,000 euros Solano needed at least to buy his airfare, and the skier boarded a flight to Finland. (The campaign eventually reached its overall goal of 4,000 euros, and three main sponsors have since helped with Solano’s expenses.)
“When he arrived, it was like love at first sight with everybody,” Valavuori said. “But he only told me about having not seen snow after he got here.”
Having failed to finish the first event, Solano set a goal of simply completing his second and final race, the 1.6-kilometer cross-country sprint. He placed 156th — last — but was all smiles.
“We have a success culture that sports is only great if you succeed,” Valavuori said. “I want to get rid of that. You get some wins, you get some losses. But there are so many other things in sports. It’s all about the story.”
On Friday, Solano announced his intention to raise money for Finnish junior skiing as a thank you to those who helped finance his trip to Lahti. He also said he planned to continue skiing in Venezuela and hoped to practice more frequently on snow. His long-term goal is to compete in the 2022 Winter Olympics.
“The part I actually enjoyed the most was falling down,” Solano said of his experience this week, “because now I am more motivated to get up and keep achieving my goal.”