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Kenyan Skier Finishes First Olympic Race (February 13)
Philip Boit, the first Kenyan ever to compete in the Winter Olympic Games, finished his first race on February 12. He was over 20 minutes out of first place, but he said when the gold medal winner helped cheer him across the finish line it was "very inspiring for me." Norway's Bjorn Daehlie won his sixth gold medal in the 10-kilometer classical Nordic skiing competition, beating the other 96 skiers entered in the race; but Boit was proud just to have finished.The Kenyan, whose hot country lies just below the equator, was originally a long-distance runner. He saw his first snow two years ago, when he went to Finland to train for his new sport in preparation for the Nagano Games. He's not that good at skiing yet--he has to snowplow down the steeper slopes, and he falls over from time to time. He was exhausted after the race: "My form isn't so good, so I use too much energy when I ski." But he was energized by the crowd, which cheered for him as he approached the finish line: "Philip! Philip!" (Shinano Mainichi Shimbun)
Kenyan Skier Finishes First Olympic Race