Athletes from across Balkans head to Vancouver

08/02/2010

More than 100 athletes from 11 Southeast European countries will participate in the 21st Winter Olympics in Vancouver. How many of them will make it to the podium? Cynics say none -- for others, hope springs this winter.

By Svetla Dimitrova for Southeast European Times in Sofia -- 08/02/10

The stands for the Snowboarding and Half Pipe competitions are set up on Cypress Mountain, British Columbia, Canada. [Getty Images]

The Winter Olympic games open February 12th -- bringing 2,500 athletes from around the world to Vancouver, British Columbia -- and close about two weeks later. In the race for the gold will be 105 athletes from 11 Balkan nations.

Kosovo is the only Southeastern European nation not participating in the 21st Winter Olympics. Aside from Slovenia, Croatia is the only state from the former Yugoslav republic to have won a medal at the Winter Olympics, doing so at its first appearance in 1994 when the games were held at Lillehammer.

Alpine skiers Erjon Tola, 23, of Albania and Bojan Kosic, 19, will be the soul representatives of their countries in Vancouver.

When Tola competed in the men's "Super-G" giant slalom in the 2006 Winter games in Turin, it marked Albania's Olympic debut. He has been ranked 35th in the world in the sport, his best showing to date.

Cyprus is also sending alpine skiers -- Christopher Papamichalopoulos, 21, who will compete in the men's events; and 19-year-old Sophia Papamichalopoulou, who will take part in both the ladies' slalom and giant slalom.

Turin 2006 was the only Winter Olympics in which athletes from Serbia-Montenegro participated on the same team. The Vancouver Games will mark their debut as competing, independent states.

Serbia is sending 11 athletes to Vancouver, including bobsled competitors Slobodan Matijevic, Vuk Radjenovic, Igor Sarcevic and Milos Savic. The Serbian team also includes apine skiers Jelena Lolovic, 28, and Nevena Ignjatovic, 19; along with two snowboarders, a pair of cross-country skiers and one biathlon competitor.

The competition will be the fifth Olympic games for Bosnia and Herzegovina's (BiH), which debuted in 1994 at Lillehammer. BiH is sending six athletes, including alpine skiers Zana Novakovic, Maja Klepic and Marko Rudic, as well as Kosarac in the biathlon and cross-country skier Mladen Plakalovic. Tanja Karisik will participate in both the ladies' biathlon and cross-country competitions.

The upcoming Games in Canada marks Macedonia's fourth participation in the Winter Olympics as an independent state. Its three-member team includes alpine skier Antonio Ristevski and cross-country skiers Darko Damjanovski and Rosana Kiroska.

Croatia's Ivica Kostelic clears the gate during the first run of the giant slalom in Kranjska Gora. [Getty Images]

Six of the seven Olympic medals won by Croatia belong to now-retired alpine skier Janica Kostelic, who won three gold and one silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. She added another gold and one more silver medal to her collection in Turin.

Janica's brother, 30-year-old Ivica Kostelic, reached the podium in the 2006 Games in Italy, taking the silver in the men's "super combined" event. There is hope that he will take the gold in Vancouver. Though he is considered one of the world's best technical skiers, changes in the rules this year may make it harder for Kostelic to do well.

Croatia's 18-member team includes nine other alpine skiers, among them Natko Zrncic-Dim, who won the bronze medal in the 2009-10 World Cup season in the super combined; and Ana Jelusic, who finished 15th in the ladies' slalom in Turin at age 19.

The Croatian team includes also four bobsled competitors, two biathlonists and two cross-country skiers.

The Vancouver Games will be the 18th Winter Olympics for Bulgaria and the 17th for Greece. Both countries fielded their first winter teams at the 1936 Games hosted jointly by the German towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen.

Greece, which missed the 1960 games in Squaw Valley, California, has yet to win its first Winter Olympic medal. Bulgaria has six, one of them gold.

"We're not going to Vancouver to win medals; we'll leave that to the professionals," Vassilis Katsoras, manager of the Greek team. "We're going in order to make a respectable showing and to raise the flag as high as possible. Any position in the top 30 for events where 100 to 120 athletes are participating is, for us, equivalent to winning a medal."

Vassilis Tsakiris, 45, a cross-country skier who will make his fifth appearance at a Winter Olympics, was chosen to bear the classic blue and white of the Greek flag at the "parade of nations" during opening ceremonies.

Alexandra Jekova of Bulgaria (top) competes as Simona Meiler of Switzerland takes a fall during the FIS Snowboardcross World Cup 2010 finals on December 19th 2009 in Telluride, Colorado. [Getty Images]

His daughter -- 19-year-old Panagiota Tsakiri -- is a biathlon competitor who is coached by her father. She is going to Vancouver with two other alpine skiers and three cross-country skiers.

"Success for an athlete is to give 100%; it will be a success for me, personally, if I surpass the 23rd position that I achieved in Turin," said Greek alpine skier Vassilis Dimitriadis.

Tsakiris and Croatia's bobsled competitor -- 48-year-old Ivan Sola -- are among the oldest athletes ever to participate in the Winter Olympics.

Bulgaria's hopes for new medals in Vancouver are pinned on the country's veteran, short track speed skater Evgenia Radanova. The 32-year-old won the silver in the ladies' 500m event at Turin 2006 and won a silver and bronze at Salt Lake City in 2002.

Snowboarder Alexandra Jekova, 22 is considered a bright spot for Bulgaria. She won a silver medal at the World Cup event in Cahpelco, Argentina in September and finished seventh at the December Telluride event in Colorado.

Romania is about to make its 19th appearance at the Winter Olympics. It holds three bronze medals from the 1968 Games in Grenoble, France and its national team is the biggest in the Balkans with 32 athletes.

Three of members of the Romanian team -- biathlonist Reka Ferencz, 20, and cross-country skiers Paul Constantin Pepene, 21, and 18-year-old Petrica Hoagiu -- each medaled in recent competitions.

Ferencz took the gold in the individual 12.5km race in the World Biathlon Cup for juniors in Sweden. Papene finished first in the men's 30km pursuit at the World Cross-country Skiing Cup for juniors in Hinterzarten, Germany, where Hoagiu won the silver in the ladies' 20km pursuit.

Turkey's Tugba Karademir skates her Ladies Short Program on November 14th 2009 at the 2009 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series in Lake Placid, NY. [Getty Images]

Turkey's first participation in the Winter Olympics was at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1936 event. They also have yet to win a medal. Turkey will be represented by three cross-country skiers, two alpine skiers and the figure skater Tugba Karademir, who placed 21st in Turin.

Located on Canada's south Pacific coast, Vancouver is the third Canadian city to host Olympic games. Montreal hosted the summer events in 1976 and Calgary did the same in 1988 for the winter games.

The lack of snow on Cypress Mountain, site of the Games' freestyle skiing and snowboarding events, is a key challenge for the Vancouver Organising Committee (VANOC). Following the warmest January on record, organisers took drastic measures, including transporting truckloads of snow from 150km away and dumping it on the melting mountain.

"I don't think there's anyone here for a second who thought we would have a January with no snow, but we did," said VANOC chief John Furlong.

The curling, ice hockey and skating events will take place in Vancouver, site of the opening and closing ceremonies. The mountain resort of Whistler -- 125km north of the city -- will host alpine skiing, cross country skiing, ski jumping, Nordic combined, and biathlon competitions along with the bobsled, skeleton and luge events.

Southeast European Times contributors Antonio Prlenda in Sarajevo and Harry Tzanis in Athens contributed to this report.