{"id":3037,"date":"2022-02-13T09:35:53","date_gmt":"2022-02-13T14:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firstandpen.com\/staging\/5861\/?p=3037"},"modified":"2022-02-13T09:36:47","modified_gmt":"2022-02-13T14:36:47","slug":"it-was-love-at-first-snow-for-haitis-first-winter-athlete-richardson-viano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firstandpen.com\/staging\/5861\/it-was-love-at-first-snow-for-haitis-first-winter-athlete-richardson-viano\/","title":{"rendered":"It Was Love At First Snow For Haiti’s First Winter Athlete Richardson Viano"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Haiti and snow are as far from partners as can be. But for Richardson Viano, Haiti’s first winter athlete, snow was love at first snowflake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At age 3, Viano was adopted by a couple who lived in the French Alps. As a scared child in an extremely unknown environment, Viano was petrified on the plane trip from the Caribbean to France to be with his new parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when the first snowflake hit his face, everything was ok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Look Richie, this is where you are going to live,\u2019\u201d recalled his mother in an AP story<\/a> about that moment when he experienced his first snowfall. \u201d\u2018See the snow and everything?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The snow, dubbed “the magic powder” became his friend and the place where his father taught him how to ski.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My dad was a mountain guide and he put me on skis as soon as I arrived, in 2005, and I\u2019ve skied pretty much all the time ever since,\u201d said Viano. \u201cIt really is a passion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the 19-year-old is competing at the highest level against top talent from all across the world at the Winter Games in Beijing in the men’s giant slalom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, the magic powder wasn’t kind to Viano and his fellow competitors. Heavy snow and fog brought treacherous conditions, leaving 33 of the 87 skiers unable to complete the first of two runs. <\/p>

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