Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong was the only athlete from Guana in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. The "snow leopard" is the first and only skier from his country, but doesn't hope for winning gold. He simply wants to show people how he deserves to be in the hills with the best skiers in the world. Kwame actually learned how to ski on an artifical hill in the UK when he was there to study. He got a job as a receptionist there which gave him free access to the slope. His curiosity then got him onto the real mountain. With the help of his coach Dave Jacobs and his own perseverance, he was able to learn how to ski on the real slopes. To qualify in the Olympics, a skier needs to have a rating of 120- 140. With lots of hard work and support from his community, Kwame was able to persevere for four years to qualify for the Olympics. Even while getting lots of scepticism because of the idea of a man from Africa in the Winter Olympics, he was able to show the world that he has proudly qualified for the Olympics as a Ghanaian.To be honest, when I first saw Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong ski in the Olympics, I was shocked at how slow he was. Even the announcers were poking some fun at it. However, when I heard the story of how he was a man from Africa who worked hard for a long time to be able to proudly represent his country, it showed me that anything is possible if you can get yourself to go extra lengths to do it. He is a great role model as he proved that focusing on your own goal and not listening to others is important. He showed that you have to find your opportunities. I was inspired by Kwame and I think that he should get more awareness for what he did to change the Winter Olympics.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7939529.stm
