Skier Issa Laborde is ready to make his Olympic debut for Kenya after his compatriot Sabrina Simader pulled out of her own races due to financial constraints.
The 18-year-old Laborde, who grew up in France to a French father and Kenyan mother, like many athletes representing less wealthy nations, has received financial support from the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Solidarity fund.
This helps him with training camps in summer, for example.
But he acknowledges that things are far from perfect. While Laborde will make his debut on the world stage in the giant slalom on Saturday, Simader will be attending the races she was planning to compete in as a spectator.
“In Africa, it’s the beginning, so there are a lot of things to improve,” Laborde said. “There are a lot of financial problems.”
Simader, who competed at the 2018 Olympics as Kenya’s first alpine skier, was planning to come out of retirement for the Milano Cortina Games but pulled out at the last minute due to lack of financial support.
Laborde said Simader told him to focus on himself and gave him strength to come to Bormio, but he hopes this scenario will not be playing out in future for skiers represented by Kenya.
NOT LIVING IN KENYA
Laborde, who is in his last year of high school, started skiing as a toddler thanks to his father who was working in the rescue patrol in the mountains in France.
He has only visited his mother’s native country Kenya three times, a story that has parallels with a lot of athletes representing smaller, warm-climate nations at the Winter Games.
“You’ll see a lot of the athletes coming from these small countries have actually been brought up in the Alps region or something like that and have been able to access winter sports,” IOC Director of Olympic Solidarity James Macleod said in January, thanking globalisation.
Macleod, who himself has a Kenyan passport and lives in Switzerland, said athletes representing countries they do not live in still help increase the reach and interest in winter sports.
‘I HOPE IT’S THE BEGINNING’ FOR AFRICAN NATIONS
“Since I was here, I have received a lot of love from Kenyan people,” Laborde said, “I’m really happy about that.”
For him, representing Kenya is tied to the prospect of change.
“I hope it’s the beginning of something bigger for all the African (nations), especially for Kenya,” he said. “There are not a lot of Black people on the slopes, of African people in general.”
He is keeping his aims for the giant slalom simple, saying: “For this Olympics, the goal of this season was to be here. So I achieved this part.”
When he returns to France, school will be his next focus. “When I go home, I have a lot of work to do,” he added.
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