Bermuda, Ethiopia and others add flair to Olympics (News Feature)

By John Bagratuni and Lars Reinefeld Feb 16, 2010, 2:56 GMT

Whistler, Canada - Tucker Murphy left the Bermuda shorts in his room and donned a proper race suit to finish 88th in Monday's Olympic cross-country ski race.

With this result, the man from Bermuda left seven others behind him in the 95-runner field over 15 kilometres.

Murphy trailed gold medallist Dario Cologna by only just over nine minutes, while bottom-ranked Danny Silva of Portugal was just under 16 minutes off the pace.

'I left a few behind, but some also passed me. But who cares, it was fun,' said Murphy.

'But we had the biggest fun at the opening ceremony when we marched in Bermuda shorts. That is our tradition. My coach was shocked.'

A few minutes later Dachhiri Shaerpa of Nepal was on hand at the finish to congratulate Ethiopia's Robel Zemichael Teklemariam for finishing 93rd at his second Olympics.

'It was great. These are my second Olympics but it is different because my family is with me this time. That really motivated me,' said the 35-year-old Teklemariam.

The skiers from Ethiopia, Nepal, Iran, Bermuda and other countries not really associated with winter sports add to the excitement of the Olympics - and boost the number of participating nations to new heights.

They may not be vying for the podium but have personal goals for themselves like the stars and don't jump more for the fun of it like famous ski-jumper Eddie the Eagle 22 years ago in Calgary.

Many remember the Jamaican bobsled's team Olympic debut in 1988 en route to cult status. But the Jamaicans are not here this time around and neither is Kenyan cross-country skier Philipp Boit, who just missed the qualifying standard to make a fourth Olympics.

Still to come, though, is ski racer Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong from Ghana, a 35-year-old known as the 'snow leopard' and determined to ski well in the slalom and giant slalom next week.

'Sport is a serious issue for me. We shouldn't we Africans show that we can do more than run fast or play good football,' he said.

India, meanwhile, is by now well represented at the winter Games with three athletes.

Tashi Lundup was a credible 83rd on Monday and Shiva Keshavan came 29th in the men's luge event overshadowed by the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, who was killed in a training crash on Friday.

Keshavan is a three-time Olympian and his sport saw a training camp in India last summer as part of a development programme by the world governing body FIL.

Kumaritashvili's death set off a new debate who should compete and who not in such a dangerous sport, but Georgian officials and politicians said he was an experienced slider and that a possible mistake in the last turn should have not caused his death.

'Mistakes do happen in sport but we are talking about sports where there is competitiveness, where there is danger, but we should avoid whatever cause of death could be,' Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili said.