Ethiopia's lone Olympian courageRobel Teklemariam offers a profile in courage

Olympics

Robel Teklemariam struggles to the finish line, coming in 84th in the 15-kilometer.
ERICH SCLEGEL: KNIGHT RIDDER TRIBUNE

Feb. 22, 2006, 1:22AM

TURIN SPOTLIGHT
Ethiopia's lone Olympian, once scared to sleep in the dark, offers a profile in courage
A lion in winter
By JOSE DE JESUS ORTIZCopyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

TURIN, Italy — Robel Teklemariam has lived in the United States for more than two decades, long enough to have fielded two lifetimes' worth of questions about his native Ethiopia.
Those questions have followed him to Italy, where he is the entire Ethiopian team at the Winter Olympics: the coach, vice chairman of the Ethiopian National Ski Federation, equipment manager and support staff.
In other words, he's here alone.
Just being here, however, is a testament to the perseverance and desire of a young man who once was too afraid to sleep with the lights out, too afraid to be left alone, and haunted by the dread of being lost in the woods.
Teklemariam, 31, doesn't fear the woods anymore. Being left alone isn't much of a problem either for Ethiopia's lone hope at the 2006 Winter Games.
"He was, and is, a wonderful person," says David Hochschartner, who taught Teklemariam to ski. "Full of a joie de vivre."
Long way from home
Hochschartner taught Teklemariam in the 1980s at North Country School in Lake Placid, N.Y. Teklemariam, a native of the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, landed at North County School a month shy of his ninth birthday in 1983.
His mother, Yeshareg Demisse, had just been transferred from the United Nations office in Ethiopia to U.N. headquarters in New York City.
Teklemariam had a difficult time adjusting to New York City, so his mother sent him upstate to North Country School's Camp Treetops, a seven-week camp for children ages 8 through 14.
Teklemariam embraced swimming, horseback riding, camp crafts and nature study, but he truly blossomed while working in the farm with the animals.

"He was a scrawny kid and loved the animals. We are also a working farm," says Hochschartner, now the school's headmaster. "In particular, we have some cute pictures of him with a pet rabbit that he befriended. He came to school the next year and lived in my house."
Out of his element
Teklemariam enjoyed Camp Treetops so much that he was enrolled in the school and remained for three years.
"At first I had a tough time adjusting with the environment in New York," he says. "Coming from Ethiopia, not knowing English, it was difficult coming to a new culture. Not knowing English was not easy. It was culture shock in a way."
The first few months at school were also difficult for the shy Teklemariam, especially when the lights went out,
Teklemariam dreaded sleeping in the dark. Hochschartner recalls that he or his wife had to sit outside the room for several months with the door ajar so the child would find comfort by seeing them before nodding off.
Teklemariam soon found a home at North Country, especially on snowy days. He became fearless on the mountains as he followed Hochschartner, who competed on the ski marathon circuit and in biathlons.
Although Teklemariam and his roommate didn't know how to ski, they joined Hochschartner on almost every hike after class on weekends.
"Neither was particularly a quick learner," Hochschartner says. "However, as soon as it snowed in November, they skied in a 150-meter track in the yard behind our dorm, and we would put the floodlights on, and after they finished homework, they would go out and cross-country ski until bedtime."
North Country School students are required to learn how to ski downhill, ride horseback and climb Cascade Mountain before graduating.
"Slowly, by dint of sheer effort, he got better and better and got to the point where he could do some pretty amazing tricks on Nordic skis," Hochschartner says. "Several years later, I remember the time at the Mideastern youth championships when (as an eighth-grader) he had finished in the middle of the pack.
"Afterward they had a fun race with obstacles, a slalom course and a jump for tricks, and he cleaned up by landing a 360 on racing gear."
King of the mountains
Teklemariam always picked the hardest hikes.
"He'd train to hike the Great Range in a day — eight mountains with almost 10,000 feet gained in elevation," Hochschartner says.
Teklemariam was an accomplished skier when he started at Colorado Rocky Mountain School. He developed enough to compete for the University of New Hampshire, reaching the top 30 in the standings.
After finishing college in 1997, he left competitive skiing and spent eight years as an Alpine skiing and snowboarding instructor for Club Med resorts in Copper Mountain and Crested Butte, Colo.
Prodded by an ex-girlfriend, Teklemariam started competitive skiing again with the Olympics as his goal.
But because Ethiopia didn't recognize skiing as an Olympic sport, Teklemariam had to lobby the Ethiopian Olympic Committee, the International Skiing Federation and the Ethiopian Ministry of Youth Sports.
The argument on his behalf was made in Ethiopia by friends and his father, Teklemariam Zemichael. (In Ethiopia, a child takes the father's first name as a last name.)
Teklemariam and his brother, Yoseph, handled the other requirement of setting up the Ethiopian Ski Federation with bylaws for future members.
After the hurdles, Teklemariam had extra appreciation when he marched in the Opening Ceremony carrying the Ethiopian flag as a team of one.
"It felt definitely very emotional," he says. "It's something that I've been looking forward to the whole time. It was surreal."
He finished 84th in the 15-kilometer race on Friday, and he'll try to improve his finish when he competes in the sprint today.
Although Teklemariam isn't even close to being considered a medal favorite, he has accomplished his goal of representing his country and dispelling some myths.
Teklemariam is often asked if Ethiopia even has snow. It does snow in the mountains, but not enough for skiing.
Unofficial ambassador
"For me, it's not just about Ethiopia," he says. "I don't think it should be a sport for only one group of people. It's such a beautiful sport, I want everybody to enjoy it. Skiing is such a great sport. You have to share it. For me, when people ask me about the Olympics, it's good because they ask about Ethiopia.
"When people think of Ethiopia, they think it's flat, no mountains and no nothing, but there are mountains. There is snow in Ethiopia — not enough to ski, but there is now."
Thanks to Teklemariam, there's even an Olympian skier from Ethiopia now.
jesus.ortiz@chron.com