Ten Winter Olympians you can’t help but support

In the pilot episode of Aaron Sorkin’s 1998 ABC comedy/drama Sports Night, Casey McCall finds himself in trouble.

Mired in unhappiness due to a recent divorce, he grows increasingly despondent with his job as the co-anchor of a cable sports news program. As a result, his on-air performance suffers, and his friends and colleagues are forced to protect him from potential unemployment at the hands of network executives concerned over plummeting ratings.

Then, something happens.

The entire newsroom gathers in front of monitors to witness a 41-year-old South African runner return from broken legs and wrongful imprisonment to set a new world record. In the midst of the cheering encouragement from the once cynical news team, Casey wanders off to phone his son. Barely containing his excitement, he tells him to turn on the television, and watch this thrilling event with him.

The runner’s overcoming of enormous obstacles restores Casey’s faith in sports, and by extension, reinvigorates his work. He reconnects with his son, and for a brief period of time, everything seems right with the world.

It’s an obviously exaggerated scenario, but it still serves to show us the good that sports can do. While we’re unlikely to witness a world record being broken at the Winter Olympics by a 41-year-old participant returning to the ski slopes or ice rink after torture and jail, there are several athletes whose mere participation is enough to encourage and inspire us – or at the very least, add a fleeting moment of contentment to our topsy-turvy lives.

They are:

Justin Reiter (United States), Snowboarding

Sacrifices are not uncommon at the Winter Olympics. It takes time, money and extreme dedication to elevate oneself to the highest level of sport. Every single participant has given up something in order to compete on the world’s biggest stage. However, no one other than a 32-year-old snowboarder from Crested Butte, Colorado, was willing to go without a home.

In order to finance his move to Park City, Utah, where he could train full time, Justin Reiter had to live out of his truck for five months. The result proved to be worth it.

Before the U.S. Olympic team was announced, Reiter emailed a U.S. Snowboarding staff member to find out when a decision would be announced. Minutes later, he received a phone call.

She told me they wanted to construct the best team they possibly could for the Olympics — then she paused for a long time. I was sure I didn’t make it. But she finished with “You’re a part of that team.”

Reiter, a silver medalist at the 2013 World Championships, will be the only American competing in the Men’s Parallel Slalom at Sochi.

Winston Watts and Marvin Dixon (Jamaica), Bobsleigh

Things were tense. With the two-man Jamaican bobsled team unable to afford to travel to the final qualifying event in Switzerland, there was a very good chance that their past scores wouldn’t be high enough to claim a spot in Sochi. Even if another sled didn’t qualify ahead of them, traveling to Russia was far from a certainty given the lack of funding available to bobsledders from the Caribbean nation.

When their competitors failed to overtake them, online supporters – full of “Cool Runnings” nostalgia – began donating funds through PayPal, Crowdtilt, Indiegogo and even Reddit, using the cryptocurrency Dogecoin.

The fact that they were even able to qualify in the first place is remarkable given that driver Winston Watts had to spend $150,000 of his own money to fly the team to the United States for training. Their sled was donated by Germany, and had to be jerry-rigged with new runners just to meet race standards.

It was estimated that the team would need another $80,000 to get to Sochi. However, $120,000 in donations poured in over two days, and now Watts and brakeman Marvin Dixon can call themselves Olympians.

Prince Hubertus Von Hohenlohe-Langenburg (Mexico), Alpine Skiing

He’s like Alberto Tomba, but without the talent.

At 55-years-old, Prince Hubertus Von Hohenlohe-Langenburg will be the second oldest Olympian to ever compete when he races in the slalom event at Sochi. An Austrian descendent of German royalty, Von Hehenlohe-Langenburg was born in Mexico, and has represented his country of birth five times at the Winter Olympics, beginning in 1984.

Von Hehenlohe-Langenburg was expected to retire after breaking his leg during a World Cup slalom race in 2007. However, after a long rehab, the Prince returned to competition in 2009, going on to compete in three more World Championships, bringing his total number of appearances to 15. Not bad for a hobby.

Gary di Silvestri and Angelica Morrone di Silvestri (Dominica), Cross-country Skiing

The first-ever Winter Olympians for Dominica will be 46-year-old Gary di Silvestri and his 48-year-old wife, Angelica Morrone di Silvestri. The Caribbean island has participated in the past five Summer Olympics, but never a Winter Games. When the IOC contacted Dominica’s representatives about eligible Winter Olympians, officials reached out to Gary and Angelica.

They knew us, called us and said, “Guys, we want you to represent Dominica if you think you can qualify.” At first we were hesitant, going from a hobby to a full-time commitment. We said, “What the hell. It’s an opportunity. We’ll take it.”

Shortly after that, the Dominica Ski Federation was established, and the two began competing in lower-level events in Australia and New Zealand. Gary qualified for the men’s 15km in December, and Angelica finally crossed the threshold for the women’s 10km during her last chance to qualify.

The two first-time Olympians are taking it all in stride, preparing for Sochi by shoring up on their country’s pins to trade with other athletes.

Shiva Keshavan (India), Luge

Along with alpine skiers Himanshu Thakur and Nadeem Iqbal, Shiva Keshavan will be representing India at the Winter Olympics. Well, sort of.

On December 4th, 2012, the IOC suspended the Indian Olympic Assocation on the basis of corruption, government interference, and not following the guidelines of the IOC. Basically, the sporting body held its elections in accordance to the Indian Sports Code rather than the IOC, which ensured that several questionable officials were elected. This past Spring, after several conditions were met, the IOC announced that it would lift the ban, but only after post-Sochi elections.

This means that when the Indian contingent takes part in the opening ceremonies, it won’t be under the Indian flag, nor will the Indian flag be used throughout the competitions. For Keshavan, a long shot to medal despite being the holder of the Asian record in luge, the lack of a flag won’t interfere with his Olympic spirit.

In my heart and mind I’m competing for India. Every day I’m flooded with messages from Indians all over the world telling me they are supporting me. This is enough to push me forward.

Lanny Barnes (United States), Biathlon

Twins Lanny and Tracy Barnes have been competing as biathletes for more than 15 years. At the final Olympic qualifier for the 2014 Winter Olympics, Lanny fell ill and missed three of the last four selection races, putting her just out of the running for a trip to Sochi.

Meanwhile, Tracy, who barely missed qualifying for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, managed to make the five person biathlon team for the Winter Games. After the final race, Tracy told her sister she would give up her spot on the team so that Lanny – a three-time Olympian – could qualify and compete at the Olympics in her place.

The simple act of selflessness represents just about everything we want the Olympics to be about, and Tracy seems to understand that better than most.

The Olympics are about more than just winning gold, or even competing. They are about friendship, cooperation, sacrifice, and a whole host of other things. Lanny is my best friend and my teammate. I see how hard she works on a daily basis, so I know first hand that she is deserving of a spot on the Olympic Team. If I can be the one to give her that opportunity, than that is an honor and a sacrifice that I am willing to make.

Petr Nedved (Czech Republic), Ice Hockey

Ahead of the 1993–94 NHL season, Petr Nedved became embroiled in a bitter contract dispute with the Vancouver Canucks. While holding out for better terms, Nedved, who had defected to Canada from communist Czechoslovakia, obtained his Canadian citizenship, and represented Canada at the 1994 Winter Olympics with whom he won a silver medal.

20 years later, the 42-year-old forward will once again be competing at the Winter Games, but this time, he’ll be wearing the sweater of the Czech Republic.

Since playing his last NHL game in 2007, Nedved has spent the last seven years in the Czech league, still averaging close to a point per game. In 2012, he represented his homeland at the IIHF World Championships, helping the team to a bronze medal, and when the puck is dropped in Sochi, he’ll be one of the few Olympians able to say that they represented more than one nation at the Olympics.

Luke Steyn (Zimbabwe), Alpine Skiing

According to weather records, the last time it snowed in Zimbabwe, the year was 1960 and women’s speed skating and biathlon were making their Winter Olympics debuts. It was also 35 years before Luke Steyn, the nation’s first Winter Olympian, would breathe his first breath of air.

Steyn was born in Harare – the nation’s capital – but his family moved to Switzerland when he was only two-years-old. He trained at several European skiing academies before winding up at the University of Colorado, where he took some time off from his studies to ski full-time.

After earning the backing of the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee and the state-run Sports and Recreation Council to represent his birth country, Steyn drove roughly 1,800 miles through France, Italy and Switzerland in 20 days to gather enough World Cup points to qualify for Sochi before the January 19th cutoff. He was successful, and now he’ll compete at both the giant slalom and slalom events at the Winter Olympics.