See names from Portugal and East Timor at the Winter Olympics in Beijing
Towards the ninth participation in the Winter Olympic Games, the Olympic Committee of Portugal announced this Monday (January 17) its three representatives to Beijing 2022. The country will already participate with two athletes in alpine skiing and one in cross-country skiing.
oh snowboarder Cristiano de Oliveira can still be sorted, but will be assigned the relocation of, which will be defined in the coming days.
The first Portuguese was participation with Duarte Espírito Santo, in alpine skiing Oslo 1952. More than three decades later, the country contours with athletes in bobsled in Calgary 1988. The best result ever in the Winter Games was with Mafalda Queiroz Pereira, with a 21st place without antennas in the freestyle ski Nagano 1998.
READ MORE: The 12 athletes representing Portugal at the Winter Olympics
In addition to Portugal and Brazil, another Portuguese-speaking country that will be present at Beijing 2022 is Timor-Leste. Olympics.com brings the names of who will be the Portuguese and Timorese representatives of the next Winter Olympic Games, in Beijing, starting on February 4th. Check it out below.
Vanina Guerillot (Alpine Skiing)
At 19 years of age, Vanina Guerillot is the best ranked in Portugal, and that’s why it’s classified for Beijing 2022 women’s slalom competition in the alpine. She recently took second place in the Arnold Lunn World Cup slalom in Prapoutel, France. She will compete in slalom and giant slalom.
Born in France, with Portuguese grandparents of Atães, Guimarães, her father is a coach of the sport and started very early. He has been representing Portugal in international countries for a few years and has participated in the Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympic Winter Games on his resume. “Representing Portugal is very special to me,” said Vanina Guerillot to the website of the Federation of Winter Sports of Portugal.
Ricardo Brancal (Alpine skiing)
The dispute for the Portuguese spot in the Alpine skiing Olympic competition in Beijing was defined only in the last countries between December and January. Born in Covilhã, near Serra da Estrela, at the age of 25 Ricardo Brancal trained and competes with a strong team in Alta Badia (Italy) and excellent results in FIS championships between November and January. Accumulated experience, good placements and some points that gave him the best ranking among the Portuguese and, with that, a place in Beijing 2022 in the slalom and giant slalom competition.
“Representing Portugal means everything,” Ricardo Brancal said in an interview with Olympics.com in January.
READ MORE: Learn more about Ricardo Brancal
José Cabeça (Cross country skiing)
The Eborense has a unique trajectory. In a season in the sport just over two years ago, in January 2020. In one season he gave the country a spot in Beijing 2022. Months later it was confirmed that he would be the Portuguese representative to compete in the 15km of the classic style.
Beijing 2022 is the realization of a dream that has been nurtured since childhood. “My dream since I was little was the Olympic Games. I always worked for it, even without knowing which modality to represent. I had in my mind that I would be there and that it would happen”, said José Cabeça in an interview for the Olympics. com in December.
READ MORE: José Cabeça and the Olympic Winter Dream in a couple of years
Timor-Leste for the third time in Winter Games
the alpine skier Yohan Goutt Gonçalves was born in France, but her mother is from East Timor. A Portuguese-speaking Southeast Asian country only achieved independence in the 21st century. Even thousands of miles away from Timor, Yohan is fluent in Portuguese and every year he visits relatives in the capital, Dili. In Tetum (one of the most spoken dialects in the country) there is no word ski and, therefore, the sport is referred to as “snow skating”.
“My mother (Carolina) gave me Timorese culture and blood. I know the Portuguese language and Tetum. I’m lucky, I feel Timorese,” Goutt told Brazilian television channel SporTV in 2014.
“It’s also a chance to be a diplomat for the country,” he added to the France 24 portal.
It will be the third Timorese participation in the Winter Games, and Goutt was present in the other two. In Sochi 2014, he took the 43rd place in the slalom. Four years later, at PyeongChang 2018, he did not finish the race.
Yohan Gonçalves Goutt is the flag bearer of Timor-Leste during the Opening Ceremony of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics.
Photo: Getty Images 2018