Skier shows Olympics skills

TIRANA, Erjon Tola was the only Albanian to take part at the Olympic Games in Vancouver.
Though he did not bring home any awards, one has to really appreciate his Olympic efforts at the games.
The 23-year-old Albanian (though he is an Italian resident) picked himself up after a big mistake to complete his first run in an epic one minute 33.94 seconds — almost double the 47.79 of leader Giuliano Razzoli of Italy.
Tola, who coaches tourists in the resort of Breuil-Cervinia and is Albania’s sole skier at the Games, was still 54th of the 101 starters after a first run with 43 non-finishers and four disqualifications in the atrocious conditions.
Tola missed a gate so halted his run, sidestepped back to the gate and then continued to complete his opening descent, punching the air after crossing the line.
“But I was watching the course and I said ‘No I want to finish it’. That’s why I came back and finished because this is the Olympics,” he continued.
“The time doesn’t matter. It is enough that you arrive to represent your country. Of course also the people that don’t finish are in the classification, but this is the Olympic spirit.”
In giant slalom in Vancouver he came 63rd.