Haiti, Snow as a Challenge: Winter is No Longer an Excuse

Haiti doesn't have winter. It has something better: perseverance. At Milano–Cortina 2026, snow is no longer an exotic anomaly, but an accepted proving ground. One might smile. One might say that Haiti at the Winter Olympics is symbolic, a pleasant, almost folkloric exception. That would be a misinterpretation. Because returning a second time to a place where one was never expected is no anecdote. It's a sporting choice. And, above all, a choice for the long term. A century after Chamonix 1924, the birthplace of the Winter Games organized in the French Alps under the name of the VIII Olympiad Winter Sports Week, Haiti confirms its place in a history it once observed from afar. At the time, sixteen countries laid the foundations of a winter Olympism based on a simple idea: sport can unite beyond climates and geographical certainties. In Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, this legacy continues. And Haiti, against all climatic logic, now consistently takes its place there. The first page was written in Beijing in 2022. For the very first time in its history, the Pearl of the Antilles discovered the Olympic winter. A discreet, almost silent, but foundational participation. Milano–Cortina 2026 is therefore not a surprise: it is a continuity. Proof that an appearance can become a journey, and that a symbol can transform into a habit. This time, the Haitian delegation relies on two athletes, two trajectories, and the same rigor. Richardson Viano, 24, is competing in alpine skiing. Stevenson Savart, 26, defends the national colors in Nordic skiing. This morning at 6 AM, Savart is expected in cross-country skiing, before the skiathlon (10 km + 10 km), a discipline of pure endurance where effort management leaves no room for approximation. These are demands found across all winter sports – from biathlon to curling, from skating to luge – and which make these disciplines a true educational lever: rigor, patience, consistency, humility in the face of effort. On the Italian snow, Haiti also distinguishes itself by its style. The official uniforms bear the signature of Stella Jean, an Italo-Haitian designer renowned for her art of blending Italian craftsmanship with Caribbean heritage. Already praised during the Paris 2024 Summer Games for their elegance and cultural depth, her creations return to Milano–Cortina as a discreet manifesto. In these fabrics, there is more than just design: there is memory, lineage, a way of asserting that even under the snow, Haiti erases nothing of what it is.
From February 6 to 22, 2026, Haiti does not come to learn. It comes to confirm. To confirm that a tropical country can inscribe its name in the Olympic winter without denying its identity. To confirm that Olympism is not a matter of latitude, but of consistency and faithfulness to effort. On the slopes of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, the Haitian delegation advances quietly, without fanfare. It simply traces a straight line. Demanding. And now, lasting. Leconte Dor