For the first time in its history, Haiti will be represented by two athletes during the Winter Olympic Games. After a baptism of fire at the Beijing Olympics in 2022, skier Richardson Viano will be accompanied this year by his compatriot Stevenson Savart. A pride for this Caribbean country plagued by extreme armed gang violence and a devastated economy.

Published on: 06/02/2026 - 07:16

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In 2022, during the Winter Olympics (OG) in Beijing, Richardson Viano caused a sensation by becoming the first Haitian to participate in the slalom competition. On the occasion of the 2026 Olympics organized from February 6 to 22 in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, the skier will do it again, but he will be accompanied by another compatriot, Stevenson Savart, qualified in cross-country skiing.

Haiti's first participation in the Summer Games dates back to the Paris edition in 1900. Since then, athletes have regularly qualified and won two medals (bronze in shooting in Paris 1924 and silver in athletics in Amsterdam 1928), but we had to wait until 2022 to see "the pearl of the Antilles" reach the Winter Games.

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From Port-au-Prince to the French Alps

Even if four years ago, Richardson Viano failed to win a medal, he proudly wore the colors of his country mired in a deep political crisis and ravaged by the violence of gangs which almost completely control the capital, Port-au-Prince. At just 19 years old, the skier even finished in an honorable 34th place in the Olympic slalom out of 89 competitors, happy "to give everything he had to give", as he confided to Eurosport at the time.

To get to the Olympic slopes, the young skier had to fight. Because, originally, nothing predestined Richardson Viano to hit the slopes: the latter spent the first years of his life in an orphanage in Haiti, a country with a tropical climate with temperatures oscillating between 25°C and 30°C. In 2005, he was finally adopted by an Italian couple, living in the French department of Hautes-Alpes. Passionate about skiing, they pass on their love to their son. Quickly hooked, the young boy continued to practice skiing alongside his schooling and studied at the Puy-Saint-Vincent Ski Club, in the Écrins national park.

The teenager acquired a good level of skiing, joining the Briançon hope center and the Alpes-Provence ski committee at the end of secondary school. But the competition is tough to break through at the high level under the banner of the French Ski Federation. “At some point, you need results, so the filtering funnel is very tight: only those who have a great level are elected,” explained his father, Andrea Viano, to France 24 in 2022.

The changeover took place during the 2018-2019 season, with a phone call from Jean-Pierre Roy. The latter, co-creator of the Haitian Ski Federation with Thierry Montillet in 2010, offered him the opportunity to ski under the colors of his native country. “Without that call, I would definitely have stopped skiing and would have been working in construction,” Richardson Viano told Olympics.com. Initially, the young man thought it was "a friend's joke" before doing research on the Internet and discovering that "there was indeed a ski federation in Haiti."

The skier finally received his Haitian passport in the summer of 2019 and participated in February 2021, under his new colors, in the giant slalom of the World Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, where he finished in 35th place. A performance which opens the way to the Beijing Olympics. Now 23 years old, he continues to live his dream. A way to restore the image of one's country of origin. “When we talk about Haiti, it’s often in catastrophic terms… It’s a way of finding the positive,” he explained to the Associated Press (AP), a few days before the start of the 2026 Olympics.

Read alsoJO-2022: skier Richardson Viano, first representative of Haiti at the Winter Games

“A very good level to go there”

His compatriot Stevenson Savart, aged 25, is also happy to help bring a little happiness to the small Caribbean nation. “The situation is really critical there. What people are experiencing on a daily basis is very difficult,” he declared on France 24 on the eve of the opening of the Olympics. “That’s also why I’m making this dream come true. It’s partly for the Haitians and to give a little light to this country.”

Stevenson Savart has the same life journey as his comrade. He also left the island at the age of 3 to live with his adoptive family in the Vosges. He put on his first skis at the age of 5 and specialized in cross-country skiing. “As the Vosges is a winter sports region, I had to be on skis quite quickly and it happened one thing leading to another,” he says.

A fan of this discipline, he was able to join the "Nordic skiing" section of the Pontarlier high school which bears the name of Toussaint Louverture, the former slave who led the Haitian revolution which led to the creation of the first black republic in the world in 1804.

But after the Covid-19 epidemic, the young man stopped this discipline for two years. He ultimately returned to his first love, inspired by Richardson Viano's journey in 2022. Stevenson Savart has worked hard to be able to follow in his footsteps and also qualify for the Olympics. "The qualification, my necessary points, I went to get them! I went to do rounds of the French Cup, the European Cup, a bit of the World Cup too. And the world championships, too, in 2023 and 2025! You have to score so many points to be accepted on the World Cup circuit and it really requires a very good level to go there, really", he assured ICI Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.

The step will be high to climb in Milan-Cortina, but above all the young skier wants to enjoy it and approaches the Olympics without pressure: "I have done quite a few races in recent years. This has allowed me to gain experience and approach the events a little more calmly. Even if the Games are truly the event of a lifetime, there is inevitably a little stress, but above all a lot of desire."

Stevenson Savart also hopes to become a source of inspiration: "Everything is possible. Any dream is achievable. I encourage young people to try lots of sports, not necessarily the most famous."

Read alsoWinter Olympics: when French dual nationals boost the African delegations

An outfit in homage to Toussaint Louverture

The two Haitian athletes benefit from financial support from the IOC's Olympic Solidarity program to cover their training, equipment and travel costs for the qualifying competitions. According to the newspaper Le Nouvelliste, the president of the Haitian Ski Federation, Jean-Pierre Roy, hopes to see Richardson Viano enter the top 30 in alpine skiing, while Stevenson Savart is aiming for a place among the top 50 in cross-country skiing.

During the competition, they will proudly wear the colors of their native country. Their outfits were designed by Stella Jean, an Italian-Haitian designer who had already designed Haiti's uniforms for the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. Initially, she was inspired by a painting by Haitian artist Édouard Duval-Carrié representing Toussaint Louverture, the father of the nation, on horseback, but the IOC ruled that this image violated Olympic regulations prohibiting any political symbolism. To solve the problem, Stella Jean left only the galloping horse standing out against a lush tropical background. On its back, we can read “Haiti” against an azure sky.

During the presentation of these outfits, Gandy Thomas, Haitian ambassador to Italy, stressed that his country's presence at the Winter Olympics is "a symbol, an affirmation, and not a coincidence." “We may not be a winter country, but we are a nation that refuses to be confined by expectations. (…) Absence is the most dangerous form of erasure,” he insisted.

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