Ghana's Snow Leopard on the Winter Olympics prowl
You know how it is. The Winter Olympics come around every four years and all of a sudden our interest is suddenly awakened in sports we've no real idea about and athletes we've never heard of.
Well the 2010 Games are just around the corner, starting on 12 February in Vancouver, Canada, to be precise, and will conjure up new unexpected heroes for their own 15 minutes of fame.
And one of these could well be Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong.
While most Winter Olympians dream of standing on the podium, proudly displaying a medal around their necks, he will be hoping not to finish last.
It doesn't sound much of an aspiration, but the skier wants to make his nation - Ghana - proud.
He has become the first Ghanaian to qualify for the Winter Olympics and will be competing in slalom and giant slalom at Whistler Creekside .
Kwame Nkrumph-Acheampong in action at the 2009 World Ski Championships
He is fully aware of his novelty status but is desperate not to be tagged in the same hapless loser category as Eddie the Eagle, the British ski jumper (in the loosest sense of the word) who came to the world's attention with his glorious failure at the Calgary Olympics in 1988.
He told me: "I don't want to finish last. There are a couple of small nation competitors I want to beat so I'm rubbing my hands and gearing up to try and thrash them.
"I also want to try and close the gap between the time of the guy who finishes first and me."
Which might take some effort.
Having looked at his statistics, Nkrumah-Acheampong has only competed at the top level - and by this I mean the World Ski Championships - on two occasions, at Are, Sweden, in 2007 and in 2009 at Val d'Isere in France.
In 2007, he finished last in the giant slalom and in 2009 he found himself in a similar position in the slalom, 36 seconds behind the winner, Austria's Manfred Pranger.
There was more cheer in the giant slalom, when he didn't finish rock bottom, he managed to beat racers from Nepal and Mongolia, but was still more than one minute behind gold medallist, Switzerland's Carlo Janka.
Nkrumah-Acheampong said he would like to pitch his Olympic dream nearer to the Cool Runnings guys, the Jamaican bobsleigh team from 1988 who triumphed against the odds and famously had a film made after them.
"They came into a sport, nobody expected them to do well and they kind of changed the face of bobsleigh because their push-start times were really competitive.
"The Eddie the Eagle story kind of got out of hand, a whole media fracas.
"I see myself as trying to do my best with the resources available."
Nkrumah-Acheampong has not taken the convential route to becoming an Olympic skier.
Although born in Scotland he was raised in Ghana but moved back to the UK in 2002 - and ironically it was snowing when he stepped off the plane.
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He took a job at Xscape, the indoor snow centre at Milton Keynes, and was able to mess around on skis like the rest of the employees.
"I entered fun races at the end of the season and didn't do too badly, coming in the top 20 so I thought I'd train with some ski racers and see if I was good at ski racing."
And he did seem to have a natural aptitude for the sport so he set about qualifying for the 2006 Winter Olympics but he narrowly missed out on satisfying the qualification criteria.
Instead of putting him off, it only made him more determined and earlier this year he succeeded, taking odd jobs and trying to secure sponsorship to help fund his battle, including getting fans and well-wishers to "sponsor a spot" on his snow leopard ski suit.
Most of his training takes place at the unglamorous setting of Hemel Hempstead Snow Centre in Hertfordshire, which is not ideal as the slope is only 160m long.
But he does also have an arrangement with Italian ski resort Val di Fiemme where he is now ruthlessly preparing for the Winter Olympics, spending eight hours a day on the snow.
He has had to sacrifice time with his wife, Sena, who works at the Open University in Milton Keynes, and his young children Ellice and Jason, but ultimately they will be with him when it matters, slope side in Canada.
And he is hoping his appearance will have a lasting legacy for the right reasons - and he genuinely believes an African can make it to the top in ski racing with the right training.
"I wake up some mornings and ask myself "what have you gone and done?" I get e-mails from people saying they're going to be watching me so there is pressure, pressure from all angles.
"But I think I have a unique opportunity to open up a special door into the Winter Olympics for Ghana so I hope I go to the Olympics and ski in such a way that people go "wow"."
And to this end he has set up a project, supported by American skier Ted Ligety, to build an artificial ski slope in Ghana, on the Akuapem Hills in Mamfe.
"I want people to say "If it's taken only six years for this guy to go this far, we can do better".
"The majority of people in Ghana think I'm crazy but some think I'm doing something unique, to inspire Ghanaians and Africans to try something different."
Hi, I'm a senior broadcast journalist covering all sports, but have a particular passion for winter sports. Anything fast and furious like skiing and bobsleigh, and at the other end of the spectrum, the genteel world of cricket and curling. You can also follow me on 
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Comments
heart warming blog
Definite shades of Cool Runnings about this story, good luck mate hope you fulfill your dream of "thrashing the other smaller nation competitors"
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Excellent story and good luck to him.
I hope he is not patronised and all the typical cliche's like 'plucky' are used to describe him. He has qualified on merit to represent his country in an olympics and not many can say that. He is also a trailblazer for his country and hopefully it will encourage people everywhere, not just in Ghana, to pursue what they want to do.
Awesome and I will be following his progress!
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This is what Olympics are about (Winter or Summer), someone sacraficing home or work life to persue a dream of competing with the best in the world of sport.
Whether he's first or last, it is heart warming to know that this guy will be an inspiration for his fellow countrymen/women, who knows may even inspire others in to the sport.
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Plucky - probably. A good story - yes. Something excellent to look forward to in Feb - definitely.
Best of luck to him.
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Ghana are sports-mad, fancy trying to get an artificial ski slope set up in the world's hottest continent. He shouldn't feel any pressure apart from that he's putting on himself for having such lofty ambitions! He may find it hard-going against the best in the world, but respect to the guy for being dedicated enough to train hard (away from his family) and pursue his dream. Go for it Kwame!
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A nice story but what about our UK athletes? A bit more publicity & support for these guys & Chemmy would help rather than lazily regurgitate Kwame's albeit charming tale.
Ryding, Drake, Crawford, Baxter & Noble deserve better than to be overlooked by lazy journos chasing dreamy stories about athletes who are simply not in their league.
Must do better BBC
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Hi Pete
Anna is, of course, covering British interests as well. Indeed she has written this piece which has been published this morning as well
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympic_games/vancouver_2010/8380233.stm
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Hi Pete (number 6) there will be lots more to come in the run-up to the Winter Olympics, from video biographies to sport guides, to interviews and blogs.
The British athletes are very much at the heart of the coverage and indeed, as my colleague Ollie pointed out, I have written about British medal chances.
You mentioned the skiers and we have been to film them and their interviews and biogs will be appearing as we countdown to 12 February.
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Honestly, what is wrong with giving some publicity to people like this that people complain? It's not as if the British Alpine ski team, despite some creditable results for a lowland nation, has ever won a medal! The Olympics are about living the dream. In the summer Olympics any nation can find someone to run in some event, but the winter Olympics are far more exclusive. Few countries can participate and even fewer can get medals (look how short the medal table is compared to the Summer Games). This guy has slogged like hell to get a chance and has made it on merit, adding a little more colour and a little less exclusivity to the event.
More power to him!
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Stargazer, just to put this into perspective. If Kwame was GB registered his FIS points would rank him in this country as 54th in Slalom & 93rd in Giant Slalom. Jack Gower (age 15) has reduced his FIS points to half of Kwame's & David Ryding skis off 14.54 (as against Kwame's 137.55) but isn't guaranteed a place in Vacouver yet.
I have nothing but respect for what Kwame has achieved but believe me our boys desperately need our help and they need it now. Much as I'm pleased that Anna has stuff prepared in the build up to February, they truly could do with the publicity and the benefits that that brings now.
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Pete - I'm not even the first BBC reporter named Ollie to get involved here, but to quickly add that Anna wrote an extensive feature on Chemmy in October, and I wrote about Ed Drake here a few weeks ago. I don't think either of them would complain that they've been ignored, and British competitors preparing for Vancouver - particularly those with a genuine shot at a medal - will be at the heart of our coverage.
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I have to say, I side with Pete on this one.
The BBC are certainly covering our own medal hopes, and fair play to them for that.
However, it pains me to see Kwame earn a living from the financial support he receives from British companies whilst British winter sport athletes with real aspirations to win medals for their country struggle to make ends meet.
The excessive media coverage that 'The Snow Leopard' receives from the British press facilitates this process, harming the progress of our own athletes and discrediting the sport as a whole.
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"getting fans and well-wishers to "sponsor a spot" on his snow leapord ski suit"
Spell check, fella? Jornalist, is it?
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This is a heart warming story - not that heart warming that it melts the snow hopefully! Just goes to show that just because you don't have snow, doesn't mean it has to limit your ambitions and dreams! Snow Menu at [Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator] wish the Snow Leopard all the best for the Olympics and we'll be keeping our fingers crossed for a good performance to match his obvious ambition!
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Cool Story, but Eddie the eagle is a national hero!
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