CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — A man who lost his left leg after being trapped for eight hours in the 2010 earthquake in Haiti made his nation proud on Friday.
Ralf Etienne became Haiti’s first ever Winter Paralympian when he competed in the giant slalom standing race at the Milan Cortina Games.
“So, ‘Haiti has a skier.’ That’s what my coach said when I came down. And that’s the most beautiful sentence I’ve heard in a long time,” Etienne said.
Etienne finished only his first run, posting the worst time, more than 30 seconds behind the leader. He was still proud of how he handled the tricky conditions at the difficult course in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
“Because I went from the 2010 earthquake and rubble in Haiti, to now on the top of the world with the best skiers, with the very best skiers in the world, skiing, racing, and I’m competitive,” he said. “I didn’t just participate as a fun guest. No, my time was just as good as your time.”
He was buried during the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck southern Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010. Haiti’s government put the death toll at more than 300,000, while a report commissioned by the U.S. government placed it between 46,000 and 85,000.
Etienne was buried upside down after the concrete multi-storey building he was in collapsed. He had to wait eight hours to be rescued, according to Olympics.com. He said he was a successful businessman at the time. After recovering, he switched to more non-profit work and then went to study in the United States.
“I love mountains. Three years ago, my friends were going on a ski trip in the mountains and I just went because of the mountain. And then I touched the snow, and then I never turned back. I lived in the United States and that’s where I really learned how to ski. I mean, just to give you the truth, I’ve been skiing 80 days all my life — 80 days.”
Now a 36-year-old banker, Etienne said people have been telling him to “quit banking and do this full time.”
“They think this is way more fun. more money in banking but, you know, I don’t do it for the money. I do it because I really like it. I like finance.
“As a humanitarian, it’s important for me to understand how the biggest companies in the world raise debt and equity and how they function and how their financial structure is set up. And that makes me a much better humanitarian because it gives me access, it gives me exposure, it gives me information that I can leverage to make the world a better place.”
Etienne said his sister flew from French Guiana to see him compete in Italy, and there was a big reaction to his feat back home. He said a local newspaper called him “the global ambassador of Haiti.”
“I mean, if you see the comments of Haitians on my Instagram, it’s crazy,” he said. “They are so proud of me doing this.”
Etienne said he was as “Haitian as it gets,” having been born and raised there, and hopes that he can become an example to Haitian people who have been struggling back home.
“This speaks to the world that there is still hope in Haiti,” he said. “Haiti has a lot to offer, but I tell the youth in Haiti and the children, because me, I might be older and I don’t have dreams, but the children, their dreams are not broken yet. They still have dreams. Allow them to dream.”
Etienne does have a hefty goal for his own future.
“In four years, of course, I’m going to come back here to get gold,” he said. “In four years, I’m not going to come here to compete. I’m going to come here to get the gold.”
Winter Paralympics: /hub/paralympic-games
