Seven nations make Winter Olympic debuts in Sochi

Dominica: The tiny Caribbean island has two athletes in Sochi, a couple who live in the even tinier New York City borough of Staten Island. Gary di Silvestri is a 47-year-old U.S. national with dual citizenship who will compete in cross-country skiing. His Italian-born wife, Angelica Morrone di Silvestri, will also compete in cross-country skiing. The pair took up Nordic skiing only in the late 1990s. The couple traveled to Dominica in 2006 to help finance a children’s hospital and were eventually offered Dominican citizenship. In 2012 opportunity called again, and the di Silvestris were given a chance to represent the island in Sochi. Gary di Silvestri — a former high school wrestler, a Phi Beta Kappa member and an MBA holder from Columbia University — agreed, thinking, “What the hell?”

East Timor: The new nation is also sending an alpine skier, Yohan Goutt Goncalves, a dark-haired, dimpled 19-year-old polyglot whose father is French and mother is Timorese. Goncalves grew up in France and began racing on weekends when he was 12. The slalom specialist helped found the Timor-Leste Ski Association in December 2013, 11 years after the Southeast Asian nation was internationally recognized as an independent state. He trains in Australia and France during their respective winters and hopes to represent East Timor at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, as well. 

Malta: This EU country's lone entry will be alpine skier Elise Pellegrin, who competed for France until October 2012. Representing the Mediterranean island nation at the 2013 world championships, Pellegrin placed 67th in giant slalom and 69th in slalom. At the 2008 Argentine national championships, however, she placed sixth in slalom at age 17. Her ambition beyond Sochi is to teach French and Maltese children to ski. 

Paraguay: The South American country's flag bearer and lone Winter Games athlete will be Julia Marino, a slopestyle skier who was born in Paraguay and adopted by an American couple before she turned 1. The 21-year-old resident of Boulder, Colo., learned to ski at Loon Mountain in New Hampshire and skied for the U.S. until the fall of 2013. She is easily the most accomplished of the new nations’ athletes. In six World Cup starts, Marino had one podium finish: second place in March 2013 at Sierra Nevada, Spain. 

Togo: The West African country's two-woman team consists of Mathilde Amivi Petitjean, a cross-country skier, and Alessia Afi Dipol, an alpine skier. Petitjean skied for France until this season and began representing Togo only after the Togolese Skiing Federation contacted her via Facebook in May. Dipol, 18, was born in Italy and has never competed on such a high-level international stage — although she did place 11th in the 2014 Slovenian national championships in giant slalom. (It is not uncommon for racers from various countries to compete at a nation’s national ski championships.) 

Tonga: The South Pacific island country will compete in luge, thanks to Fuahea Semi, a former rugby player who officially changed his name in 2009 to Bruno Banani — taking the name from a German (skimpy) underwear company. He is not, however, required to wear the company’s gear while competing, he said via email before the opening ceremony. Banani has said he wants "to leave an imprint in this world with luge." In January, however, he injured his left foot during a Nation’s Cup race at his “home” track in Altenberg, Germany, where he learned to slide. Nonetheless, his sister is expected to be in Sochi to watch him compete.

Zimbabwe: The African country's alpine skier is Luke Henri Steyn, a 6-foot-tall 20-year-old who was born in the nation’s capital, Harare, and moved to Switzerland, where he learned to ski at the age of 2.

He took the year off from the University of Colorado in Boulder to try to qualify for the Sochi Games. In his lone World Cup appearance, in Schladming, Austria, in January 2012, he didn’t make the top 30 to qualify for a second run in slalom.