Olympic Athlete Profile (22 of 25) Robel Teklemariam/cross country skiing/Ethiopia

Robel Teklemariam, 35, seen here waving the Ethiopian flag in the stands during the Vancouver Olympics' opening ceremonies, finished 93rd out of 95 cross country skiers in the 15-km freestyle competition on Feb. 15, but his story is quite a unique one given that he represents a country in sub-Sahara Africa.

Robel (we'll use his first name to make life easier) has spent a considerable amount of time in America as he is an alumnus of The University of New Hampshire.

"The Richmond Times-Dispatch" reported that his mother Yeshaneg Demisse, who was in attendance to watch her son at the games, owns a restaurant called The Nile which serves Ethiopian food near the Virginia Commonwealth University campus in Richmond, Va.

Robel competed in his second Olympics after making his debut in Torino.

Dario Cologna of Switzerland won the gold in the 15km free-style with Italian Pietro Piller Cottrer getting silver and Czech skier Lukas Bauer taking bronze.

Robel told "The RTD" that he hoped to expose more Ethiopians to skiing, and that the diaspora community in British Columbia was very welcoming of him.

On Robel's wikipedia page, he is quoting as saying that his mission is a minimalist one:

"I'm a realist," Robel said. "My goals are for further down the road. I want this Olympics to open my eyes and hopefully the eyes of other Ethiopians."

Robel has also a kept a blog of his expeirences as part of the 5 Dreams project, which includes blogs from for other Olympic athletes. One of the other four is Turkish figure skater Tugba Karademir, whom we features in our second entry in this series. Karademir's short program was actually televised in prime time on NBC even though she was not a medal contender.

The story of how Robel flew in from the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa (ninth grade geography teachers may want to make this a bonus question on their next test!) to Dubai to Toronto to Vancouver is one that any road-weary passenger can relate to.

Robel said that an expected 20-minute stopover in Dubai became a two-hour nightmare because of the extensive time it took him to go through customs. Then, he boarded what would be an exhausting 14-hour flight to Toronto. After that, he had to get on a domestic Canadian flight to Vancouver which took yet another four hours.

But, he made it in time for the opening ceremonies, which were in his own words an unbelievable experience.

Olympic Athlete Profile (2 of 25)_ Tugba Karademir-Figure Skater from Turkey

Many folks might be surprised that Turkey, a country with relatively few ice-skating rinks, has a competitive Figure Skater named Tugba Karademir (pictured) who placed 21st in the 2006 Winter Olympics.

I have a special interest in Turkish athletes because I am a Turkish-American. No Turkish athlete has ever medaled at the winter games though quite a few, including legendary weightlifter Naim Suleymanoglu (who first won gold at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul) have won Olympic medals in the summer games.

Karademir, who is also one of five Turkish Winter Olympic athletes, is competing again in Vancouver. The skater who will turn 25 on March 17 actually resides in Canada and is attending college at York University in Toronto where she is studying biotechnology. Karademir is also Turkey's first ever international ice skater.

According to Turkish Canadian blogger Sertac Sehlikoglu Karakas, Karademir began ice skating at the age of five in 1990 at the first ice rink which had just opened in Turkey.

But, international skating for Karademir started shortly thereafter when she was eight and she skated at a competition in Holland.

Karademir went on to win a gold medal at the Balkan Games when she was 10, but due to the fact that Turkey lacked training facilities for a skater of her caliber, her family decided to move to Canada where she was coached by Robert Tebby.

There were some trials along the way as Karademir got injured, but she began skating again in 2000. She placed fifth on the Canadian junior team, but she ultimately decided to represent Turkey.

Her major breakthrough performance came during the European Championships in 2006 where she placed 13th. As a result, the Turkish Olympic committee decided to make her carry the flag in Italy for the 2006 Winter Olympics.

In a 2002 interview with goldenskate.com, the then teenage Karademir said that she loved reading, rollerblading and spending time on Turkish beaches, presumably the likes of resorts like Bodrum and Kushadasi.

She also said that performing in front of an audience was a genuine, fulfilling experience:

"I love doing shows. Presentation and the crowds are probably my favorite part of skating."

On her Twitter page, Karademir said the opening ceremonies in Vancouver 'were a blast.'

SIDEBAR: There were many medal events today in Vancouver, but we are going to focus our attention on a very exciting men's mogul skiing competition. Alexandre Bilodeau (pictured here) was able to pull off a moderate upset by beating previous champ Dale Begg-Smith of Australia, who actually grew up in Vancouver before moving to the land down under.

Bilodeau became the first Canadian to win a gold medal on Canadian soil even though the 1988 Winter Olympics were held in Calgary. Begg-Smith got the silver, and American Bryon Wilson of Butte, Mont., who like Bilodeau was not favored to medal according to "Sports Illustrated," got the bronze.

Bilodeau told the AP that the victory was a personal triumph for him and for Canada:

"I don't think I really realize it. It's too good to be true."

Vancouver Winter Olympics Preview

Unlike my sister Lale, I will not be attending the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, which got underway yesterday, but hey- I can still blog about them even though I am over 3,000 miles away in Wilmington, NC (not where I actually live, but close enough!).

As many readers know, the games were marred by tragedy yesterday as luger Nodar Kumaritashvili from the former Soviet republic of Georgia died during a practice run. He was only 21 years old.

But, the games must go on.

We are going to attempt to profile 25 Winter Olympic athletes starting with speed skater Heather Richardson from High Point, NC, tomorrow. We will also attempt to cover any interesting breaking news as it happens from Vancouver. The result of today's women's hockey game between Sweden and Switzerland, which will be broadcast at 5:30 p.m. (eastern time) on CNBC is probably not going to be in that category!

Some of the other athletes I hope to discuss are American snowboarder Shaun White, aka "The Flying Tomato" and "Animal" (named from the drummer on "The Muppet Show"), Russian hockey player Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, Norwegian giant slalom skier Alex Lund Suindal (hope I spelled his name right!) and Finnish ski jumper Janne Ahoren.

Two of the more interesting features I hope to post about will include a profile of Turkish women's ice skater Tugba Karademir, who has quite a loyal following in Turkey. My late father immigrated from Turkey, and Karademir is arguably the country's most accomplished winter athlete though she is not in medal contention. Karademir lives and trains in Canada, and she will turn 25 on March 17.

And, I found out, much to my surprise that there is an Iranian female skier named Marjan Kalhor who posed with a head scarf in her team picture. As many might expect, she is the first female winter Olympic athlete to represent Iran which is in the middle of political upheaval.

I would also like to profile Austrian ski jumper Gregor Schlierenzauer, a gold medal favorite, but I am not sure I can consistently spell his name right! In fact, we had to double-check it four times just now!

There is also North Korean speed skater Ko Hyon-Suk, but being that he is from North Korea, arguably the most isolated country in the world, there is probably not much information on him.

Lastly, we should mention the athletes who we will alas have to snub due to time constraints (in fact, I think I'm pressing to try for 25). I must start off with the very attractive Bulgarian snowboarder Alexandra Jekova (pictured here) who would be a dream date of mine for Valentine's Day! But, I doubt if she would have time to meet for lunch at Applebee's, especially since I am snubbing her!

We are also going to by-pass German luger Felix Loch (also pictured) who is expected to perform very well in Vancouver and the eccentric Australian moguls skier Dale Begg-Smith (pictured here) who is a serious medal contender.

Time permitting, we may also post an entry about the Danish women's curling team, expected to medal though they will likely have to contend with host Canada. One Danish curling team member Angelina Jensen actually sells insurance!