Snow Leopard Gets Ready For Olympics

Whistler, Canada – The Snow Leopard took a long look at Whistler last week, and his main feeling about the host mountain resort for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games is that it’s “really big.”

Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, the first athlete from Ghana ever to qualify for a winter Olympics, spent five days in Whistler beginning last Wednesday (July 22), as he and his family visited the resort in a trip organized through the Canadian Tourism Commission’s (CTC) Connecting with Canadians program with Tourism Whistler and Tourism British Columbia.

Nkrumah-Acheampong has been gaining fame as the ski-racing “Snow Leopard,” a nickname given to him by the first journalist to write a story about him, since he made a bid to qualify for the 2006 Olympics in Turin. Having only started skiing one season before, he was unsuccessful that year, but his dedication to the slopes didn’t wane.

In March 2009, Nkrumah-Acheampong cemented his spot in the 2010 Olympics, earning a berth in the slalom and giant slalom races to take place in Whistler by fulfilling the requirements of the International Ski Federation’s (FIS) points system.

“I love sport. I love sport, and if I want something, I bring 150 per cent to get what I want,” the determined Nkrumah-Acheampong said on Saturday (July 25) in Wayside Park, before embarking on a canoe outing with his family.

Nkrumah-Acheampong and his wife, two children and niece sampled a variety of Whistler sights in their visit, including a round of glacier skiing, a tour of the Village and a Ziptrek excursion. Nkrumah-Acheampong also took a look at the Dave Murray Downhill, site of the men’s alpine events in the Olympics, and said the slope looks fun and fearsome.

“It’ll be really exciting, lots of turns banks and jumps. Tough course,” Nkrumah-Acheampong said. The prospect of heading to Whistler for his first Olympics is “scary and exciting,” he said, but he thinks “everything will calm down once I’m on the slope.”

Born to Ghanaian parents in Glasgow, Scotland, Nkrumah-Acheampong spent his childhood travelling between Scotland, Ghana, Zambia and Nigeria. His first foray into skiing came in the unexpected locale of Milton Keynes, U.K., where he worked at an indoor ski centre while studying for his Masters degree in tourism management.

As a one-man team, Nkrumah-Acheampong’s rise in the sport has been remarkably self-powered.

“It is difficult, because I have to travel alone, so I drive all the bags alone, get to my races alone, do everything alone,” he said.

In the winter, he trains in Val di Fiemme, Italy, and he lives with his family in Milton Keynes in the summer. His own jobs and his wife have helped fund his training.

“I kind of coach myself. I watch other people, what they’re doing, and I train with other teams when I get the chance,” Nkrumah-Acheampong said. He did have a coach who helped him when he started skiing, he added, and that coach will be with him in his Olympic debut.

Describing how he has been able to progress on his path to the Olympics, he said, “you just watch the good guys and you do what they do. You’ve got to put in hours, because I’ve only been skiing for about six years, so any chance I get to ski, I have to ski. The more hours, the better my technique.”

Having the 2010 Olympic berth under his belt is a “big weight off my shoulders,” he said, as he feels more relaxed now and is excitedly looking forward to the Olympics and his return to Whistler when there’s snow. Nkrumah-Acheampong, who wears a spotted leopard suit in his races to go with the nickname, is even promising to debut a new outfit for the Olympics.

“You’ll like the new one for the Olympics — Snow Leopard but with a twist to it,” he joked.

Nkrumah-Acheampong and his family were scheduled to tour Quebec after their Whistler visit. The CTC Connecting with Canadians program brings international athletes and their families to meet locals and experience the country before the competitors return for the Games in February 2010.