At 19, Richardson Viano is the first Haitian skier to represent his country at the Olympic Games.
Richardson Viano grew up in France, but it is the colors of his country of birth, Haiti, that he will proudly represent. The young man of only 19 years will become the first Haitian athlete to participate in the Winter Olympics. Whoever spent the first years of his life in an orphanage was not destined to become a skier. Adopted by an Italian couple living in the Hautes-Alpes, Richardson discovered skiing at the age of three, never imagining himself one day competing in the Games. But one call changed everything. One day, the president of the Haitian Ski Federation Jean-Pierre Roy contacted him to offer him to wear the colors of his flag.
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In 2018, a few months earlier, he had however decided to stop everything, for lack of sufficient results to hope one day to be part of the French ski team. “I didn’t believe it. I thought it was a joke from a friend. At the end of the call, I did some research on the internet and discovered that there was indeed a ski federation in Haiti. A few days later, I called him back and then we met him with my parents, ”he says on the Olympic Games website. Before giving him his decision, Richardson Viano wanted to check that it was not a joke. “Without this call, I would certainly have stopped skiing and I would be working in the building,” he recalls. “He comes from afar, he’s not a young man who comes from the mountains, his genes are more ‘sea’, but he’s a fighter, he has always been able to grit his teeth to integrate into the ski world. “, comments his father, quoted by France 24 . “I suffered to get there,” said the young skier interviewed by Telematin .
“Not skiing in the skin”
On December 4, 2019, Richardson Viano participated in his very first official race under the colors of Haiti. The beginning of its beautiful story. Two later, in the giant slalom of the 2021 World Championships, he took the 35th square. In Télématin, he explains that he does not expect any results in Beijing but hopes to “gain experience”. “Going to the Winter Olympics in Beijing with a qualified Haitian athlete in alpine skiing is so powerful when you think about the country’s situation,” said Jean-Pierre Roy, president of the Haitian Ski Federation, at the Olympics website.
By his own admission, Richardson “doesn’t have a gift or skiing in his skin”. “I had to work a lot to get there.” “I would like my story to inspire other people, he says to Télématin. Life sometimes brings you to your knees, but if you fight, don’t give up, train hard, you can make it,” this is the message that the young man who says he has Haiti in his blood, wants to pass. “It’s a dream for me to be here and represent Haiti at the Winter Olympics for the first time. I hope this will show that our country is not limited to earthquakes and other disasters,” he adds.
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