Snow leopard poised for Olympic fame
Wednesday February 24, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong's story is not a new one. 

Here on PlanetSKI we have already written about how he started work at the indoor centre and then had a dream to ski in The Olympics.

Kwame, 34, was born in Glasgow but grew up in Africa near Accra without ever seeing snow.  He came back to Britain in 2003 and got a job as a receptionist at the Xscape in Milton Keynes where he tried skiing for the first time.

The Olympic spirit"I began skiing at the indoor ski centre and took a few lessons as they were free for staff. But I quit my job when the love affair with skiing grew because I felt I had a good chance of making it professionally," Kwame says.

He realised he had a talent for it and it was at the artificial slope that he decided he wanted to compete in the Olympics and started his training regime.

He raised money and eventually started to compete on the FIS circuit until he got enough points to be able to compete at The Winter Olympics.

His story has now got out to a wider world and he has featured in articles in over 100 different countries as news of his determination spread.

"People like Kwame, who have overcome obstacles that most of us couldn't begin to imagine, are part of the reason that the Winter Games are so motivating to people. Here's a guy with a family who trains hard, skis hard, and supports charities that work in underdeveloped areas in Ghana," says Breton Murphy, manager of destination media relations at Tourism Whistler.

"He's quickly becoming one of the most popular figures in the 2010 Winter Games here in Whistler."

Not since the Jamaican bobsleigh team took the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics by storm has there been such a stir of excitement around an unlikely competitor.

However there are some people who claim he is too publicity hungry. For them he seems part of an orchestrated media campaign to gain publicity for himself and his sponsors.

Here at PlanetSKI we have met him several times training indoors in the UK and we wish him the very, very best of luck.

We'll let you know how he gets on.

See our special Olympic Section on PlanetSKI; as well as the latest news it is has some in-depth features and a few stories that you won't see elsewhere.

While the latest blog from our content editor reveals he has got rather swept up in it all too.

Bookmark this page

Related Articles