Skier Connor Wilson will be the only South African representing at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea starting today.
Conner Wilson, a 21-year-old who competes for the “SA Active Club”, will compete in the Alpine Skiing slalom/giant slalom event. Based in Johannesburg, Wilson was ranked 54th in the giant slalom and 71st in the slalom event. He was selected to be South Africa’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
A total of two South African athletes qualified for the one available Alpine Skiing slot at these Winter Olympics.
The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee selected Wilson on the basis of his world ranking which was superior to his other counterpart and had the potential to do best for the country.
Team management for Connor will be Peter Pilz who will also assume a coaching role. He will be assisted by Eastern Cape skier Sive Speelman who will be the team’s technical official.
“Coming from a dry country like South Africa with extremely limited winter sport conditions, our teams to winter sports have traditionally always been small,” said SASCOC president Gideon Sam.
“But, as we do in all our myriad sports, snow sports are still an important part of the sporting family. We wish Connor all the best and I’m also sure that Sive Speelman is going to gain a wealth of experience during his time in South Korea.”
The 2018 Winter Olympics kicks off from the 9th to 25th February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Korea. Pyeongchang was selected as the host city in July 2011, during the 123rd IOC Session in Durban, South Africa. It marks the first time that South Korea has hosted the Winter Olympics, and the second Olympics held in the country since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.
The Games will feature 102 events in fifteen sports disciplines, including the addition of big air snowboarding, mass start speed skating, mixed doubles curling, and mixed team alpine skiing to the Winter Olympic programme. 2,952 athletes from 92 National Olympic Committee will compete, including the debut of Ecuador, Eritrea, Kosovo, Malaysia, Nigeria and Singapore.
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