Robel Teklemariam competes in the 15-km freestyle race at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010. (Associated Press photo, courtesy of the Teklemariam family)
At the Nile Ethiopian restaurant in Richmond's Church Hill neighborhood, brothers Benyam and Yoseph Teklemariam are working to foster a new generation of Winter Olympics competitors.
The restaurateurs formed the Ethiopian Ski Association with their brother Robel Teklemariam, who wanted to represent their country of origin as a skier in the 2006 Winter Olympics. At the time, there wasn’t an infrastructure to make that possible.
“Nothing existed for any type of winter sport,” Yoseph Teklemariam says. “After a lot of Skype calls and emails, talking to the different Ethiopian government groups, they basically said this association needs to exist.”
The association wasn't able to get an Ethiopian athlete to the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, but members hope the East African nation will be represented in future Winter Olympics. This year's events come to a close on Sunday.
Yoseph Teklemariam describes the association as a “family affair.” His mother, Yeshareg Demisse, inspires the family’s ventures.
“She’s always pushing us to follow whatever dreams we have, whatever we want to do,” he says.
Robel Teklemariam trains for the Olympics in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, in 2010. (Photo by Irada Humbatova/Associated Press, courtesy of the Teklemariam family)
Robel Teklemariam competed again in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, which has a sizeable Ethiopian population. The association promotes skiing and other winter sports to young Ethiopians, often around age 12 or 13, who live in colder climates such as Europe, the U.S. and Canada.
“Initially, it’s just getting them to go to races where they live and seeing if it’s something they want to pursue,” Yoseph Teklemariam says. “[Competitive skiing] is a serious commitment. We can’t push that. All we can do is encourage it and put the framework and the support for them if they want to do it.”
Maintaining interest in the sport among the Ethiopian diaspora isn’t the only hurdle — many Ethiopians living abroad have been adopted and lost their Ethiopian citizenship. This was the case for the association’s 2018 hopeful, who would have had to live in Ethiopia for nine consecutive months to regain citizenship and be eligible to compete for Ethiopia. In addition to the legal challenges, the 19-year-old California skier lost interest in competing, Yoseph Teklemariam says.
While Ethiopians have the option to represent the country where they live, representing Ethiopia means they don’t have to compete for a spot on a selective Olympic team. The athletes still have to qualify, though, Yoseph Teklemariam says.
Athletes are also proud to represent their birth countries.
The Vancouver Ethiopian Association threw a celebratory event for Robel Teklemariam when he competed in the 2010 Winter Olympics. (Photo by Yoseph Teklemariam)
“[The Teklemariam family] walked out for the opening ceremony supporting our brother in Vancouver. There’s a huge, huge amount of pride,” Yoseph Teklemariam says. “When you’re at the Olympics, you’re representing a full nation. It’s not just you.”
Yoseph Teklemariam says he doesn’t know if the association will have a competitor for the 2022 Winter Olympics, but each season brings a “revitalized interest” in networking for the association.
The association’s goal is to make sure Robel Teklemariam isn’t the “first and last” Ethiopian to compete in the Winter Olympics, Yoseph Teklemariam says.
