Ethiopian Skier Wants More Than a Gold Medal in Vancouver

Ethiopian Olympic skier Robel Teklemariam has a much more important goal than winning the gold in Vancouver, according to Yahoo Sports.

“My real goal now is to get Ethiopians involved in skiing,” Teklemariam told Yahoo! Sports. “I don’t want to be the first and the last.”

Teklemariam finished 84th in men’s cross-country skiing in the Turin Olympics four years ago. He hopes his performance in this year’s Winter Olympic will inspire other Ethiopians.

“For me the greatest thing in the world would be that I don’t qualify for the next Olympics because there’s another Ethiopian who’s faster than me,” Teklemariam told Yahoo Sports.

The Ethiopian skier understands culture shock better than most. Teklemariam adjusted to snow quickly when he moved to New York with his mother when he was 8-years -old.

“I had a major culture shock,” Teklemariam told Yahoo Sports. “But skiing was a very big part of the life and culture at the school. So you had no choice. You were on snow.”

Teklemariam makes up the entire Ethiopian ski team, but that may change quickly with a strong performance in the Olympic Games.