East Timor skier, 19, shoots for Olympics

When Yohan Goutt Goncalves decid ed he wanted to become a Winter Olympian, he discovered he'd have to form his own federation first. Goutt Goncalves created the Federation of Skiing in East Timor with the help of his mother and family friends, chose himself as the only logical athlete to represent it, then proceeded to get the International Ski Federation to formally recognise it in June 2012.

If the Goutt Goncalves, just 19, can pick up a minimum number of qualifying points, which he expects to do in some second-tier races beginning in Norway, he will become East Timor's first athlete to compete in a Winter Olympics, taking to the hills of Sochi, Russia in slalom and giant slalom races. Goutt Concalves is the son a French father and his mother is from East Timor, the tiny former Portuguese colony off Australia's tropical north coast. Many of Goutt Goncalves' family members live in Australia, where he has based himself for Southern Hemisphere winter training the past several years as he attempts to achieve his lifetime goal. Along the way, he hopes to raise the profile of East Timor and its continuing challenges, especially for the country's youth. The France-born Goutt Goncalves first hit the ski slopes in his father Pierre's backpack when he was a year old, and skied for the first time when he was three. “My long dream is being slowly achieved,” Goutt Goncalves said in a telephone interview from France with The Associated Press.

He was on a short break from a training camp in Austria with several other skiers from countries who don’t have their own coaches. “We have two Israeli girls and a Romanian, and we’re all skiing together,” he said.

“Timor-Leste (the French words for East Timor) doesn’t have a lot of money, we can’t afford a private coach. Just two coaches and one trainer in Austria. We’re like a team who all want to represent our countries.” Goutt Goncalves’ Facebook page, where he often receives messages of support, leaves no doubt as to his ambition. His main photo shows him skiing full throttle down a hill, and under his “Personal Interests,” the notation simply says: SKI