You know about Jamaica and Cool Runnings, perhaps you've heard about the Snow Leopard from Ghana. Now, on the morning of his event, meet the latest in charismatic and determined warm-weather Olympians, whose ability to even come and compete at these Games deserves a personal gold medal. Introducing the Snow Lion from Ethiopia.

From the streets of New York to the plains of Lake Placid, the deserts surrounding Addis Ababa and the rain slicked Olympic Village in Vancouver, Robel Teklemariam has come a long way.

Teklemariam may have been the only person standing next to the Ethiopian flag a few days ago, cutting a lonely figure in the drizzling rain singing a solo to the Ethiopian national anthem, but he didn’t feel alone.  

True, Teklmarion was surrounded by the Australian, Icelandic, Norwegian and Portuguese teams as they were officially welcomed at the Olympic Village, but more than that, there were up to 80 million Ethiopians elsewhere in the world singing along with him.

At the Vancouver Olympic Games the cross country skier, the only Ethiopian to compete at an Olympic Winter Games, may be a novelty, but back home he is a superstar. Ethiopians, like Australians, love their sport and glorify their athletes. He was surprised by over a dozen of his country men who awaited his arrival at the airport, and at home they even have two special names for him.

Beredoe Shirtate and Beredoe Ambesa. The Ice Slider, and the Snow Lion.

The repetition of the word “beredoe” is easily explained by a nation which has no snow. Ethiopia has just one word for anything frozen. Teklemariam explains “In English there are so many words, sleet, snow, hail, slush. We keep it simple, we like things uncomplicated”.

Teklemariam speaks in a smooth American accent, gained not from movies but 23 years in the states. He left when he was 9, headed to the USA where his mother worked with the United Nations in New York. He attended boarding school at Lake Placid and in junior high, had his first encounter with snow.

“There were some kids building jumps in the backyard, so I was actually jumping before I ever turned on skis. I fell in love right from the start, immediately.”

He finished school in Aspen, Colorado at the Colorado Rocky Mountain School and has kept those ties. When seeing a student of the same 150 member school on a bus in Whistler, he asked if he could have his photo taken with her (which she then promised to pass to an old teacher).  

Lake Placid is still a sponsor, relieving some of the financial burden of being a Winter Olympian. Not just a Winter Olympian, but president of the Ethiopian Ski Association, which Teklemariam founded to be eligible to compete in the Olympic Games. Now he just needs members.

“It can be a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’," Teklemariam said.

"It was when I saw Kenyan Winter Olympians that I saw being a Winter Olympian was possible, that there was no reason why I couldn’t do it too.”

Kenya first had a Winter Olympian in cross country skiing in 1998.

Through the Federation and promoting skiing in his native country, he hopes Winter Olympic team members will become “a more permanent thing”.

Other countries have attempted to lure the Snow Lion into their lairs, but he remains staunchly Ethiopian, refusing other passports due to an adult affiliation with his homeland. “I’ve had opportunities to be other nationalities”, he says “but I’ve stayed Ethiopian.  Now I’ve spent more time there as an adult I feel more connected to the people.”

Four years ago in Turin, Teklemariam beat fifteen others and this time could perform even better as he has an extra edge – staff. Three in fact, including a Chef de Mission. At the last Olympics, he was the entire team, covered in a teams’ worth of accreditation passes, ranging from athlete to coach.

Teklemariam describes himself as a “quiet individual”, but on the course today, where he takes on the traditionally dominating  Scandinavian and European countries, see him roar. Regardless of where he places, he sports the markings of a champion.

Flip Byrnes
AOC - Whistler