Global trade growth in 2021 surpassed pre-pandemic levels: UN

Online News EditorFebruary 17, 2022

 

Geneva, Feb 17 (EFE).- Global trade in goods and services reached a record of $28.5 trillion in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 25 percent and a 13 percent jump over the figures for 2019, the year before the coronavirus pandemic struck, the United Nations said in a report Thursday.

“The positive trend for international trade in 2021 was largely the result of increases in commodity prices, subsiding pandemic restrictions and a strong recovery in demand due to economic stimulus packages,” the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said.

In the last quarter of 2021, trade in goods rose to a record $5.8 trillion while services, whose recovery has been slower, grew to $1.6 trillion, slightly above pre-pandemic levels.

UNCTAD expects international trade trends to normalize in 2022 but also predicts a lower-than-expected growth in trade amid continued pressure on global supply chains and record levels of global debt.

“A significant tightening of financial conditions would heighten pressure on the most highly indebted governments, amplifying vulnerabilities and negatively affecting investments and international trade flows,” the report warns.

Slower-than-expected economic growth – the International Monetary Fund has revised its world economic growth forecast downward by 0.5 points due to inflation in the United States and concerns related to China’s real estate sector – also likely to affect trade, according to UNCTAD’s report.

Another factor that is expected to impact trade trends in 2022 is increasing global demand for environmentally sustainable products amid a transition towards a greener world economy.

Among the trade figures for the world’s major economies, the UN agency highlighted the 43 percent rise in China’s exports compared to pre-pandemic levels, while in the United States, the European Union, and Japan the increase was more modest (12 percent, 10 percent, and 6 percent respectively).

Chinese exports between October and December continued to rise – 6 percent year-on-year – compared to the same quarter of the previous year, while those of Japan fell by 2 percent compared to the last quarter of 2020, and those of the US grew by 4 percent and of the European Union by 1 percent.

In general, the expansion of exports in the last quarter of 2021 was more notable in developing countries with a year-on-year increase of 35 percent compared to 2019 than in developed economies, where the increase was 19 percent.

Trade in the energy sector practically doubled in the last quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020.

Compared to pre-pandemic figures, metal trade was up 59 percent, the biggest increase among all the sectors studied, while chemicals rose 43 percent and pharmaceuticals 35 percent. EFE

abc/pd/ssk

Ecuador congress backs limited right to abortion in case of rape

Online News EditorFebruary 17, 2022

 

Quito, Feb 17 (EFE).- Ecuador’s National Assembly voted Thursday to allow abortion when a pregnancy is the result of rape, but with restrictions opposed by feminists.

After the original text failed to garner the 70 votes needed to pass, the draft was modified to permit abortion up to the 12th week for most adult women, with an extension to the 18th week for minors and women in rural areas.

President Guillermo Lasso, a political conservative and member of the predominantly lay Catholic organization Opus Dei, has 30 days to either sign the measure into law or veto it.

Lawmakers acted on an April 2021 ruling from Ecuadorian Constitutional Court mandating decriminalization of abortion in cases of rape.

Lasso, who has held that life begins at conception, vowed to respect the court decision.

“Today the congress made a majority decision after a wide, participative, lay and democratic debate about a bill of great importance for the present and future of the girls, adolescents and women of this country,” Assembly speaker Guadalupe Llori said after the legislation passed.

Activists on both sides of the abortion issue gathered outside the capitol early Thursday ahead of the vote.

Some of the abortion-rights protesters sat partially undressed holding up signs describing the plight of women forced to bear children resulting from rape.

“Kelly should be playing with her friends, but she is taking care of her rapist’s son,” read one message. “Paty is 11 years old and needs an emergency caesarian after a pregnancy caused by rape. The doctors say her body is very small and she could die.”

Abortion opponents, meanwhile, insisted that termination should never be permitted.

“Whatever the circumstance of conception, it is a life!,” was the sentiment displayed on a poster carried by members of a group identifying themselves as pro-life residents of Quito.

Feminist campaigner Veronica Vera told Efe before the vote in congress that the National Assembly had already failed women.

Going forward, she said, activists will fill suits in “international and domestic courts for every death of a raped girl or woman, for every woman and girl forced into maternity.” EFE fgg-sm/dr

Rescued condors nurtured to health – and flight – in Chile’s Patagonia region

Online News EditorFebruary 17, 2022

By Maria M.Mur

Patagonia region, Chile, Feb 17 (EFE).- Pumalin, an Andean condor found as a baby with signs of frostbite and on the verge of death in southern Chile, is believed to have fallen out of his nest during a powerful storm.

Named after the Douglas Tompkins Pumalin National Park where he was discovered, he has been given a second chance and recently was freed from captivity along with Liquiñe, a female condor who was rescued in the country’s central region.

“Losing a condor is a tragedy. The species is vulnerable and could soon be in danger of extinction,” Cristian Saucedo, wildlife director at Fundacion Rewilding Chile, told Efe.

Pumalin and Liquiñe spent the first stage of their rehabilitation at a raptor center in Santiago before being transferred to a large cage in the heart of Chile’s portion of southern South America’s Patagonia region, a section of Patagonian steppe near the Argentine border and in the shadow of Monte San Lorenzo.

Since their arrival, they have become accustomed to the Patagonian winds and low temperatures, learned to dismember the carcass of a guanaco (close cousin of the llama) and even received visits from other condors that perched for hours on the roof of their cage.

The most emblematic species of the Andes region, the condor is “very social and gregarious, and its survival depends on its ability to interact with its peers. They need the group to find flight paths or places to rest,” Saucedo said.

Last weekend, the condors’ handlers decided the time had come for them to “fly the nest.”

They had reached the necessary weight of between eight and 10 kilograms (18-22 pounds), had a wingspan of nearly 2.7 meters (nine feet), their plumage was in good condition and they showed fear of humans, a sign they had not become domesticated.

The doors of the cage were opened, and surprisingly Liquiñe was the first to venture out. Pumalin was hesitant for a while.

“This was her second attempt. We released her a few months ago, but we had to rescue her shortly afterward because she wasn’t used to being free,” Proyecto Manku Director Dominique Duran, whose organization has worked with Rewilding and Fundacion Meri on this condor conservation project since its inception in 2021, told Efe.

“The condor signified the connection between the sky and the earth” for pre-Columbian cultures, Mateo Barrenengoa, a videographer who filmed the condor release for a documentary he is preparing on that Andean scavenger, the world’s largest flying bird, told Efe.

“It’s an animal that gives you amazing moments. Sometimes it passes very close by, and you can even hear the movement of its wings,” he added.

Chile accounts for South America’s largest Andean condor population, and some 70 percent of those raptors are found in Patagonia, a frigid, rugged region that is shared by Chile and Argentina and also is home to other emblematic Andean species like guanacos, huemuls (an endangered deer species) and rheas (a large flightless bird).

The condors in the northern extent of their range, particularly those in Ecuador and Colombia, are the most vulnerable, Saucedo explained, adding that the plan is to bolster the population in Patagonia before carrying out reinsertion programs elsewhere.

Duran said the release of the birds into the wild is “only the beginning of a long reinsertion process,” noting that two radio and satellite transmitters implanted in the condors will allow their movements to be studied and expand knowledge about this very vulnerable species.

Illegal hunting, poorly managed landfills, a lack of guanacos to eat and “toxic carrion” – animal carcasses that livestock producers deliberately poison to kill foxes and pumas – are the biggest threats to the Andean condor’s survival.

“These condors have returned to nature post-captivity, and we should learn from them and return to nature, to our roots, become more connected,” Barrenengoa said. EFE

mmm/mc

Argentine environmentalists sound the alarm on climate change

Online News EditorFebruary 17, 2022

 

By Augusto Morel

Buenos Aires, Feb 17 (EFE).- Pointing to the wildfires, drought and heat waves that have marked the start of 2022 in Argentina, environmental organizations call for adaptation, mitigation and effective laws to protect the ecosystem.

Eighty percent of the tree-cutting that destroyed 110,180 hectares (272,049 acres) of forest last year was illegal, according to a report from Greenpeace Argentina.

“There is a law that protects the forests, but it doesn’t work is each (provincial) governor permits changes in the demarcation of zones that should not be deforested,” the group’s climate campaign coordinator, Bruno Giambelluca, told Efe.

Indiscriminate destruction of flora deprives the atmosphere of the humidity needed to form rain clouds and dries out the soil, creating the conditions to transform any random spark into a conflagration.

Data from the National Institute of Agricultural Technology show that as of Feb. 7, wildfires had consumed 519,000 hectares in Corrientes province.

And all but two of Argentina’s 23 provinces have been enduring temperatures of 40 C (104 F) for days on end.

Greenpeace and other environmental groups have shifted the emphasis of their campaigning from preventing climate change to dealing with its effects.

“There has to be adaptation because we are already living it,” Giambelluca said. “If a city floods every time it rains, more infrastructure is necessary.”

“The government must stop emissions. It’s a gradual situation where we have to convert dirty energy to renewables,” he said.

Environmentalists’ chief demand is that Argentina live up to its commitments under the 2015 Paris Accord on climate change, which have been largely set aside in pursuit of an economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

President Alberto Fernandez’s administration is appealing a court decision that blocked plans for oil exploration in the Argentine Sea just 300 km (186 mi) off the coast of Mar del Plata, a city that subsists on tourism and fishing.

Andres Napoli, an attorney who runs the Environment and National Resources Foundation (FARN), wants to see a greater sense of urgency from the government.

“The weather wasn’t perceived as a threat, but the climate question is increasingly bearing down on us. We don’t have decades to convince people and we will have to accelerate,” he told Efe.

EFE

aam/dr

Tennessee Lawmakers Push for Legalization of Medical Marijuana

Rafael FigueroaFebruary 15, 2022

 

 Legisladores de Tennessee presionan para legalizar la marihuana medicinal Photo: beqbe.com

KNOXVILLE, TN (WVLT) — Some Tennessee lawmakers said this is the year the state needs to legalize medical marijuana. Democratic Rep. Jason Powell presented a resolution to the General Assembly to give the voters the final says.

Rep. Powell said, “We’ve seen a record number of cannabis’ legislation.”

If approved, voters would get the final say on medical marijuana which could change the state’s constitution.

“It’s time for Tennesseans especially those who are suffering and would benefit from medical cannabis,” Rep. Powell said.

His proposal would allow the growth, process and sale of medical cannabis. Only people with approved medical conditions including cancer, epilepsy and MS could use it.

This resolution would need 2/3 approval in both the Tennessee House and Senate to go to the November ballot.

Rep. Powell said, “I think it’s extremely popular and if it’s on the ballot it will pass.”

Some Republican East Tennessee lawmakers are split on the matter. For Sen. Becky Massey, the matter is personal for her.

“Watching my brother-in-law pass away from ALS, watching my sister die; when nothing else works, I don’t see how we can deny it to people,” Sen. Massey said.

Sen. Massey supported legislation for medical marijuana in years past.

Doctor and Sen. Richard Briggs, pointed to science. He said because medical marijuana is not approved by the FDA, he couldn’t approve it either.

“Marijuana is a plant and not a medicine and I just don’t like unregulated things being prescribed by people with no medical training,” Sen. Briggs said.

Rep. Powell has proposed a 4% tax in his legislation. A portion would go to veteran health care.

Kuwait overturns law criminalising 'imitation of opposite sex'

Amnesty International says decision marks 'a major breakthrough' for transgender rights in the region

Jailed Kuwaiti transgender woman Maha al-Mutairi 

(Photo courtesy of change.org)

By MEE and agencies
Published date: 16 February 2022 

Kuwait's constitutional court on Wednesday overturned a law that criminalises "imitation of the opposite sex", in a move Amnesty International said was a breakthrough for transgender rights in the region.

Kuwaiti lawyer Ali al-Aryan, who filed a lawsuit to overturn article 198 of the penal code two years ago, confirmed that the law had been repealed, and said it had violated personal freedoms, which are enshrined in the constitution.

"The law was overly vague and broad, and we based our defence on the existence of medical and constitutional foundations, as there are hormonal as well as psychological contributors," he told AFP.

Parliamentarian Osama al-Munawer said in a Twitter post after Wednesday's ruling that another amendment would be sought to address "shortcomings in the legislative drafting", according to Reuters.

Kuwait: Video of transgender woman alleging police abuse goes viral

Read More »

Amnesty International welcomed the court's decision, saying it marked "a major breakthrough" for transgender rights in the region.

"Article 198 was deeply discriminatory, overly vague and never should have been accepted into law in the first place," its Middle East and North Africa deputy director Lynn Maalouf said in a statement.

She said the Kuwaiti authorities "must also immediately halt arbitrary arrests of transgender people and drop all charges and convictions brought against them under this transphobic law".

Maalouf also called for the release of those "unjustly imprisoned", including Maha al-Mutairi, who was sentenced last year to two years in prison for being transgender, among other charges.

Mutairi, 40, had been arrested several times before on the same grounds, her lawyer, Ibtissam al-Enezi, told AFP at the time, but added that the latest conviction - which included "misusing phone communication" - had been by far "the harshest".

Degrading and humiliating treatment

In 2012, Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented the negative effects of article 198 on the lives of transgender women in Kuwait, who reported multiple forms of abuse at the hands of the police while in detention.

They described degrading and humiliating treatment, such as being forced to strip and parade around police stations, being forced to dance for officers, sexual humiliation, verbal taunts and intimidation, solitary confinement, and emotional and physical abuse that could amount to torture.

Calling for Mutairi's release last year, HRW cited article 36 of Kuwait’s constitution, arguing that it guaranteed freedom of opinion and expression.

'Mutairi’s story is one of many horrific accounts by transgender Kuwaitis whose only crime is expressing themselves publicly'

- Rasha Younes, Human Rights Watch

"The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Kuwait has ratified, also guarantees the right to freedom of expression and requires that any restrictions 'must be constructed with care', ensure that they do not stifle freedom of expression in practice and should not provide for 'excessively punitive measures and penalties',” HRW said.

"The United Nations Human Rights Committee, which monitors compliance with the ICCPR, has made clear that the covenant prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation in upholding any of the rights protected by the treaty. As a state party to the ICCPR and the Arab Charter on Human Rights, Kuwait is required to protect the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, including for transgender people."

“Mutairi’s story is one of many horrific accounts by transgender Kuwaitis whose only crime is expressing themselves publicly,” said Rasha Younes, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights researcher at HRW. “Kuwait should immediately release Mutairi, investigate her allegations of sexual violence in detention and end its criminalisation and harassment of transgender people.”

In 2018, Oman amended its penal code to punish a man who "publicly appears in the likeness of women in his dress or guise" with imprisonment of between one month and a year, along with a fine.

THIRD WORLD USA
National Guard deploys for new emergency: Teacher shortages

SEE;ANYONE CAN TEACH
By CEDAR ATTANASIO

1 of 4

New Mexico Army National Guard specialist Michael Stockwell kneels while helping Alamogordo High School freshman Aiden Cruz with a geology assignment, at Alamogordo High School,Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022, in Alamogordo, N.M. Dozens of National Guard Army and Air Force troops in New Mexico have been stepping in for an emergency unlike others they have responded to before: the shortage of teachers and school staff members that have tested the ability of schools nationwide to continue operating during the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)


ALAMOGORDO, N.M. (AP) — On past deployments Army National Guard Spc. Michael Stockwell surveilled a desolate section of the U.S.-Mexico border during a migrant surge, and guarded a ring of checkpoints and fences around New Mexico’s state Capitol after the January 2021 insurrection in Washington.

On his current mission, Stockwell helps students with assignments as a substitute science teacher at Alamogordo High School.

“You can’t act Army with these kids. You can’t speak the same way you would with another soldier with these kids. You can’t treat them the same way. You have to be careful with corrective actions,” he said with a laugh.

Dozens of National Guard Army and Air Force troops in New Mexico have been stepping in for an emergency unlike others they have responded to before: the shortage of teachers and school staff members that has tested the ability of schools nationwide to continue operating during the coronavirus pandemic.

While many other states and school districts issued pleas for substitute teachers amid omicron-driven surges in infections, New Mexico has been alone in calling out its National Guard members. In 36 of the state’s 89 school districts, guard members have traded in mission briefs for lesson plans to work for school systems.

When Stockwell first walked into the freshman science class, wearing camouflage fatigues and combat boots, some students thought he was just visiting, like a recruiter. Then he took a seat in the teacher’s chair.

“When he started taking attendance, I was like, ‘whoa,’” said Lilli Terrazas, 15, of Alamogordo. “I was kind of nervous because, like, you know — a man in a uniform. But it was cool. He helped me.”

Roughly 80 service members have volunteered to work in schools. The troops have gone through background checks and taken brief courses required for substitute teachers. As substitutes, they don’t have to learn much about curriculum, but they need to be attentive to students.

Stockwell has been filling in since late January when his students’ teacher moved to an administrative role in another school. One recent day, he shuffled through the rows of school desks, kneeling to meet students eye-to-eye as he helped them with assignments calculating the depth of the earth’s crust, and other layers of the planet.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, called out the guard to help with the acute shortages in a state that like several others has struggled to find enough educators. At least 100 schools had reported closing down for at least one day this school year.

New Mexico saw a surge of teacher retirements last fall, and there are currently around 1,000 open teaching positions in a state with about 20,000 teachers. Grisham stressed the guard deployment is a temporary measure and state officials are working to bolster the teaching force and school staff through increased pay and other strategies.

At Alamogordo High School, the teacher shortage peaked on Jan. 13, when 30 teachers, about a third of the teaching staff, were out due to illness, professional training, or family emergencies.

“Everybody was enjoying their holiday and things like that, and then they came back and were sick,” said Raeh Burns, one of two Alamogordo High School secretaries tasked with filling teaching slots each morning. “I know I’m going to have Mr. Stockwell every morning and that he’s OK to go where I need him to go.”

In some communities, there have been concerns raised about soldiers going in classrooms. In Santa Fe, the school district was asked if soldiers would wear uniforms and carry guns, school district spokesperson Cody Dynarski said. Guns were always out of the question. The district decided that soldiers would wear civilian clothing.

Ultimately, Santa Fe and Albuquerque, two of the largest urban school districts, did not receive any soldiers despite their requests as the deployments have prioritized smaller and more rural school districts.

Elsewhere, when given the choice, some soldiers have opted for military fatigues over civilian clothes to command respect in the classroom, particularly if they’re not much older than their students.

“I think I look like an 18-year-old out of uniform,” said Cassandra Sierra, 22, of Roswell, N.M., who has served as a substitute teacher in a high school in Hobbs.

Sierra already works with kids in her day job as a student coordinator at a military boarding school in Roswell, which has given her an edge as a substitute.

“Kids just need patience,” she said. “I think I just have a lot of patience.”

At a middle school on Alamogordo’s Holloman Air Force Base, students are used to seeing people in uniform, but not in classrooms.

“I was like, ‘Oh, we have somebody in the uniform that’s going to teach us. That’s kinda awkward.’ It was weird,” said Andrew George, 12, of his computer classes led by a woman trained in combat and with experience leading a platoon overseas. “Once she introduced herself I was like ‘Oh yeah, this is going to be fun.’”

The substitute, Lt. Amanda Zollo, works in the 911 dispatch center in Albuquerque when she’s not training or serving with the guard. She kept students on task during a lesson about cybersecurity, as they created and then attempted to break each other’s passwords.

She was subbing for a teacher who was having trouble finding childcare. The principal, Whitney Anderson, said that having Zollo’s services meant that for the first time that week she didn’t have to take over a classroom herself.

Zollo doesn’t talk about her work as an infantry officer with her students, which, after a nervous laugh, she describes as “engaging with and destroying the enemies of the U.S. in close-quarter combat.”

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This story has been corrected to reflect that it was the high school missing a third of teachers, not the entire district.

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Attanasio is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues. Follow Attanasio on Twitter.

On the slopes, a struggle for Black skiers’ Olympic dreams

By AARON MORRISON

1 of 6

Richardson Viano, of Haiti, celebrates after finishing the men's slalom run 2 at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022, in the Yanqing district of Beijing. Haiti sent skier Richardson Viano to China as its first winter Olympian ever. Like Viano, who learned to ski in France after he was adopted by a French family, most of the African and Caribbean participants in the Games either trained or lived in countries with ski slopes and training facilities. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

BEIJING (AP) — Take an informal survey of elite American Alpine skiers and snowboarders, and most can name an organization that exposes Black and Hispanic children from urban areas to winter sports.

Whether it’s on indoor halfpipes in New Jersey, or the Rocky Mountain slopes of Colorado and Wyoming, there seem to be plenty of programs aimed at developing a diverse new generation of skiers and snowboarders.

So where are the Black and Hispanic American athletes at the Winter Olympics?

The U.S. Alpine skiing team in Beijing is entirely white. The U.S. snowboarders and freestyle skiers include Asian American riders, but none who are Black or Hispanic.

“It’s incredibly unfortunate,” said Ryan Cochran-Siegle, an American silver medalist in super-G at Beijing. “We all want to figure out ways to close those gaps between different minorities and their access to skiing.”

The past and present of the alpine sports are both working against that goal. White and elitist, they were born in the mountains of Europe, and are flourishing for the most part in mountain communities without a lot of racial or ethnic diversity.

Then there is the cost: A single day of skiing can cost $100 or more, not including travel and equipment rental; owning your own gear costs even more. Wealth and easy access to resorts make a significant difference in one’s ability to progress from recreation-level participation to an Olympic path.

It’s one reason why few who make it to the Olympics are first-generation skiers, said Bode Miller, whose six Olympic Alpine medals are the most for any American skier.

“If your family didn’t ski, or you weren’t exposed to it through your upbringing, it’s just very unusual,” Miller said. “Your friends have to kind of push you into it.”

The solution to the lack of diversity in skiing and snowboarding, according to Miller and others, is creating access to the slopes for underserved communities.

“Accessibility (splits into) subcategories of financial accessibility, geographic accessibility and cultural accessibility,” said Miller, who is part of a group working to build indoor skiing facilities across the United States.

Advocates say the kind of two-day-a-week programs that create space on the snow for Black and Hispanic children are making a difference. But not enough so yet to be seen at the Olympics.

A young athlete’s chances of making an Olympic team increase significantly with intensive training at elite boarding schools or academies that can cost of tens of thousands of dollars.

But Schone Malliet, a Black CEO and founder of Winter4Kids, a nonprofit that makes winter sports accessible to New York-area schoolkids, says programs like his are about much more than training elite athletes.

“When you see these kids out here, and they’re in awe of what they see on a mountain and when they fall and get up and they keep going? That’s the deal,” Malliet said. “They change their whole perspective on their lives. Forget about skiing, snowboarding or cross-country, but just building the idea that, ’I can fall down and get up.’”

Kenya's Sabrina Simader speeds down the course during the women's super-G, at the alpine ski World Championships, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021. Seba Johnson broke barriers during the 1988 Calgary Games, becoming the first Black woman to ski in a Winter Games, and at 14, the youngest. The next Black woman in an Olympic Alpine ski was Simader who skied in the 2018 Games at Pyeongchang, South Korea. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati, File)

Racial diversity is still a novelty across most winter sports, not just skiing and snowboarding.

In Beijing, there is only one Black figure skater competing for any nation. On Sunday, American Erin Jackson became the first Black woman to win a gold medal in speedskating. In other events, a small number of Black and Hispanic athletes compete with longshot chances at medals.

There are, in fact, some people of color competing in ski events at the Beijing Olympics. They are from African and Caribbean nations -- Ghana, Nigeria, Eritrea, Jamaica. Haiti sent skier Richardson Viano to China as its first winter Olympian ever.

Jean-Pierre Roy, president of the Haiti Ski Federation, who was on hand Sunday to watch Viano ski in the giant slalom, skied in world championship races but said Haitians’ interest in the sport has taken off with Viano’s pioneering participation.

“There have to be dreams,” he said. “Without dreams there is no progress.”

Like Viano, who learned to ski in France after he was adopted by a French family, most of the African and Caribbean participants in the Games either trained or lived in countries with ski slopes and training facilities.

Sophie Goldschmidt, head of U.S. Skiing, said inclusion is a core value for her organization, but acknowledges the barriers to progress on skier diversity.

“Whether it’s sort of being cost prohibitive or just exclusive for other reasons, it’s something that I’m keen to change,” she said.

A 2021 audit of diversity, equity and inclusion of U.S. Skiing revealed the organization is almost entirely white. Just 1% of the organization’s staff identified as people of color, while all of its coaches and board members were white.

Seba Johnson first saw skiing on a tiny black and white TV in the housing project where she lived in Fredericksted, on the island of St Croix. She was awed. Seeing it in person at the age of 5 convinced her she wanted to be a ski racer.

Nine years later, Johnson broke barriers during the 1988 Calgary Games, becoming the first Black woman to ski in a Winter Games, and at 14, the youngest. She relied on support from ski equipment companies, celebrities and other donors, and even then was able to spend far less time training than her competitors.

“No one should have to beg for an opportunity to do what their heart desires,” Johnson, 48, said in an interview.

Although she competed at subsequent Olympics, representing the U.S. Virgin Islands, there wasn’t another Black woman in an Olympic Alpine ski event until 30 years later, when Kenya’s Sabrina Simader skied in the 2018 Games at Pyeongchang.

She called it “heartbreaking” that Black representation in skiing hasn’t improved.

 Erin Jackson of the United States skates during a speedskating practice session at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022, in Beijing. Jackson became the first Black woman to win a gold medal in speedskating. In other events, a small number of Black and Hispanic athletes compete with longshot chances at medals.(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

Alaska-born Andre Horton became the first Black man on the U.S. ski team in 2001, although he never competed at an Olympics.

Another Black skier introduced Horton to the National Brotherhood of Skiers, a Black-led organization advocating for greater representation in winter sports. The group’s convention in Aspen, Colorado, was the first time Horton saw large numbers of other skiers who looked like him. He said other attendees were awed by the sight of him in his national ski team uniform.

Horton recalls sharing a chairlift ride that day with a 70-year-old Black woman, who drove home how important Black representation is for the sport.

“She said, ‘When I was your age, I wasn’t allowed to ski.’”

That’s exactly why the National Brotherhood of Skiers exists, says its president, Henri Rivers. It aims to clear racial and social barriers for Black athletes so they can focus on excelling in winter sports.

Even then, the Black and Hispanic skiers coming through the pipeline aren’t ready to compete for spots on an Olympic team. They’d do better if the greater ski community embraced them and saw them as the future of the sport, Rivers said.

“They don’t even realize how many different obstacles are being put in their way to slow their progress.”

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Associated Press writers Howard Fendrich, Pat Graham and John Leicester contributed. New York-based journalist Aaron Morrison is a member of the AP’s Race and Ethnicity team on assignment at the Beijing Olympics. Follow him on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/aaronlmorrison.

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More AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

2022 Beijing Olympics: Inspired by 'Cool Runnings,' four-man Jamaican bob makes Olympic return

Jamaica has a four-man bobsled team in the Olympics for the first time since 1998. Too young to witness the famous 1988 team but big fans of "Cool Runnings," this year's team wants to add to Jamaica's bobsled legacy.

    

Shanwayne Stephens is the first Jamaican to qualify for the Olympics in two-man 

and four-men bobsled since Dudley Stokes

Rolando Reid, Shanwayne Stephens, Ashley Watson and Matthew Wekpe weren't alive to witness Jamaica's bobsledding debut in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.

But they all grew up watching "Cool Runnings," the 1993 comedy starring Leon Robinson, Doug E. Doug, Rawle D. Lewis, Malik Yoba and John Candy, and all of them were at least partly inspired by the film to take up bobsledding themselves.

"It was definitely something I would just look at and say 'oh, this is funny.' It's a hilarious movie," Reid told DW. "After understanding what it is and what the guys went through, I wanted to be a part of that and to carry on that legacy."

While all four love the film, they know that know that even if they didn't, they would still be associated with it anyway. But they don't see it as a bad thing.

"The movie is a part of Jamaican bobsled, part of Jamaica. We're never going to get away from it," Stephens, who pilots the two- and four-man bobs, told DW. "It's a movie everybody loves, and I think it's one of those movies that never gets old."

Today's Jamaica Bobled team was inspired by the 1993 film 'Cool Runnings'

They also recognize the lasting messages of "Cool Runnings" – the value of hard work, chasing dreams and being true to oneself: "The best I can be is Jamaican," says Sanka Coffie, who is played by Doug E. Doug, at one point in the film.

Given the trials the current team had to face getting to Beijing, inspiration was something they sorely needed.

Difficult path to qualification

Reid, Stephens, Watson and Wekpe entered bobsledding in different ways.

Reid, Watson and Wekpe all have track-and-field backgrounds, though Watson is also a power lifter and Wekpe also plays rugby sevens. Stephens is a gunner pilot in the British Royal Air Force (RAF). Reid, like Stephens' brakeman in the two-man bobsled, Nimroy Turgott, lives in Jamaica, while Stephens, Watson and Wekpe live in the UK. But they have one thing in common; there is no snow where they live.

"Even though we're in a colder country, we are still in the same situation, so we have to be creative with our training," Stephens said. "We do as much of that stuff outside of sliding as we can."

The UK's coronavirus-induced lockdown didn't help, either. A video featuring Stephens and two-man partner Turgott pushing Stephens' mini went viral last year and drew a chuckle from Queen Elizabeth II.

"Well, I suppose that's one way to train," Her Majesty told Stephens during an RAF video call.

Jamaica Bobsleigh pilot Shanwayne Stephens had the easy part as Nimroy Turgott pushed him in his mini

Due to the pandemic, Jamaica's four-man team came together for the first time on September 18, 2021, in Lake Placid, New York. They prepared for qualification on an old four-man sled which broke halfway through a competition, but Canada was "kind enough" to lend them one, Stephens said.

"The challenges we've been through this season have been unbelievable," the bobsled pilot added. "We can't even express how hard it's been for us to qualify."

But qualify they did, taking the final spot in the 24-sled field based on their performances in the North American Cup in Lake Placid, which they said had become their home track.

Building on Jamaica's legacy

Reid was proud to point out that Stephens was just the second Jamaican pilot after Dudley Stokes to qualify two sleds for the Olympics – the two-man with brakeman Turgott and the four-man with Reid, Watson and Wekpe.

"That in itself is something for the history books," Reid said. "In the modern era, he's the man."

To Wekpe, the two sleds, plus Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian qualifying in the women's monobob, show how far Jamaica has come as a bobsled nation.

"It just shows that we might be a small nation, but if we put our minds to it, and we work hard, we can qualify for the Games," Wekpe said.

For the Jamaicans, that embodies the main takeaway from "Cool Runnings." 

This year's four-man sled has a different name: "Rude Gal Angelica," which honors Fenlator-Victorian's sister who died shortly before the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics – "Rude Gal Angelica" was her Instagram name.

The best finish for Jamaica in the four-man bobsled is 14th, which Dudley Stokes, Winston Watts, Chris Stokes and Wayne Thomas achieved at the 1994 Games in Lillehammer, Norway. But this year's team isn't too concerned about trying to improve on that standard; for them, it's all about being part of the Jamaican bobsled legacy.

"The sport has moved on so far. The equipment has moved on so far. There are a lot more countries in the sport now," Stephens said.

"We're here to do the best that we can and put our best in every single run that we do, and then the result will be what it will be. As long as we are setting a precedent for the next generation to want to come into the sport, I think we've done ourselves proud."

Given how far they've come, and how hard it was to get to Beijing, rest assured that Reid, Stephens, Watson and Wekpe will "feel the rhythm," "feel the rhyme" and "get on up" for "bobsled time."

Edited by: Chuck Penfold.

THINGS FALL APART

Russian trio of skaters face uncertain futures after drama

By JAMES ELLINGWORTH

1 of 13

Kamila Valieva, of the Russian Olympic Committee, reacts after competing in the women's free skate program during the figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)


BEIJING (AP) — The gold medalist said she felt empty. The silver medalist pledged never to skate again. The favorite left in tears without saying a word.

After one of the most dramatic nights in their sport’s history, Russia’s trio of teenage figure skating stars each enter an uncertain future.

Her Olympics and life turned upside down by a doping case, world record holder Kamila Valieva faces a possible ban and a coach whose first response to her disastrous skate Thursday was criticism.

“Why did you let it go? Why did you stop fighting?” cameras caught Eteri Tutberidze — the notoriously strict coach who will be investigated over Valieva’s failed drug test — telling the 15-year-old after she fell twice and dropped out of medal contention.

WINTER OLYMPICS

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As Valieva placed fourth and left in tears, she received a message of support from 2018 silver medalist Evgenia Medvedeva.

“I am so happy that this hell is over for you,” Medvedeva posted on Instagram. “I really value you and love you and I’m happy that you can relax now, little kitten. I congratulate you on the end of the Olympics and I hope that you can live calmly and breathe.”

Unfortunately for Valieva, she can’t relax just yet. The failed drug test which turned her life upside down still hangs over her head.

While she was allowed to keep skating in Beijing by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to avoid “irreparable harm,” that ruling is valid only until a full investigation of her Dec. 25 test for the banned substance trimetazidine is resolved. The case could take months and still cost Valieva and her Russian teammates the gold medal they won in last week’s team event.

Runner-up Alexandra Trusova was also in despair after her history-making five quadruple jumps proved not enough to beat teammate Anna Shcherbakova to the gold medal. “I hate this sport,” she shouted at the side of the rink. “I won’t go onto the ice again.”

Trusova said she was happy with the skate but not with the result, an apparent jab at he judging that gave Shcherbakova enough extra points for artistry to keep her ahead.

Trusova could be heard crying that she was the only one without a gold medal. The Russians won the team event using Valieva twice instead of allowing Shcherbakova or Trusova to skate one of the women’s programs. That win could be stripped because of Valieva’s doping case.

Trusova later said her comments about not skating again had been “emotional”, the result of missing her family and her dogs, but didn’t commit to compete at next month’s world championships.

Shcherbakova seemed unsure how to react the drama unfolding around her, and said she felt sorry for Valieva. “I still don’t comprehend what has happened. On the one hand I feel happy, on the other I feel this emptiness inside.”

Shcherbakova arrived in Beijing as the world champion from 2021, but Valieva’s record-breaking scores and Trusova’s all-or-nothing quads turned her into an underdog to her younger teammates. Being called an Olympic champion was “unreal,” Shcherbakova said. “I don’t feel like it’s me they’re talking about.”

Russian skaters’ careers are typically so short that at the age of 17, Shcherbakova almost immediately faced questions over whether she would retire.

“I have the desire to skate, and I can’t even imagine being without figure skating,” she said. The 2026 Olympics are a long way off, and no Tutberidze-trained woman has ever stayed in elite skating long enough to become a two-time Olympian. The last woman to retain the gold was Katarina Witt of East Germany in 1988.

What happens next for Shcherbakova and her teammates-turned-rivals depends on many factors — the eventual doping verdict, any further punishment for Tutberidze and the rest of her entourage and the myriad of injuries which can plague young skaters performing quads.

As she tries to recover from a failure on the sport’s biggest stage, Valieva remains at the center of a confrontation between Russia and international institutions. About six hours before she took to the ice, Russian Olympic Committee president Stanislav Pozdnyakov said he would not give up the team event gold medal “under any circumstances, regardless of the results of the disciplinary investigation into the athlete.”

Just one of many unresolved questions for the three young Russian skaters.

___

More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

'Throwaway society': Valieva saga puts spotlight on teen skaters' age

Rebecca BAILEY
Wed, 16 February 2022

Russia's Kamila Valieva is at the centre of a doping controversy at the Beijing Olympics 

Teenage skater Anna Shcherbakova next to her coach Eteri Tutberidze in Beijing (AFP/Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV)

On the ice, the 15-year-old Russian Kamila Valieva exudes composure and emotional maturity.

But as a Beijing Olympic doping scandal exposes the teenager's vulnerability, debate has reopened over age in women's figure skating and whether young athletes are adequately protected.

Female skaters have always skewed young, with six of the last seven Olympic golds won by teenagers.

This year is likely to be no exception, with Valieva and her 17-year-old teammates Alexandra Trusova and Anna Shcherbakova tipped to sweep the podium.

All three train with coach Eteri Tutberidze, who has led a revolution in women's figure skating over the last eight years, producing teenage Russian star after star capable of athletic feats of ever-increasing complexity.

But concerns have been raised over whether the technical brilliance they display withers away with puberty, leaving them prone to burn-out, injury and, ultimately, the figure-skating scrapheap.

Former figure skater Katarina Witt, who won gold in 1984 and 1988 for East Germany, used the term "throwaway society".

"For years I have asked why 15 and 16-year-old Russian talents win the Olympic Games with exceptional performances and then leave the world stage of competitive sports forever, too often with health issues," she wrote on Facebook.

Witt called for the minimum competition age for senior skaters to be raised from 15, an idea which has been floated before in the sport but has never borne fruit.

In Tuesday's short programme in Beijing -- which Valieva won -- Karen Chen, considered a veteran at 22, said that when she was young she wasn't afraid of anything.

"I was just kind -- I don’t know if robot was the right word -- but my coach would tell me to go do something and I would just go do it," said the American.

Her teammate Mariah Bell, at 25 the oldest US woman to compete in Olympic figure skating since 1928, said she "absolutely" believed the age limit should be changed.

Switzerland's Alexia Paganini agreed that it would provide more "motivation to create a skater who has longevity", while Natasha McKay of Britain said that injuries might be reduced.

- 'Quad Squad' -

Tutberidze's school of skating sensations exemplify these concerns -- so far, none have seen more than one Olympics.

Her breakout star, Yulia Lipnitskaya, was 15 when she won Olympic gold at the 2014 Sochi Games in the team event.

Her mesmerising "Schindler's List" routine dazzled observers, who predicted a glittering career. Three years later, Lipnitskaya retired.

In 2016, she had suffered a serious leg injury and never again reached top form.

She finished last in her final competition, later telling Russian media that afterwards she "came home, put (her) skates in the closet, and not seen them since".

She also revealed she had undergone treatment for anorexia.

At the 2018 Olympics, two different teenage Russians -- again, both Tutberidze's students -- were on the podium.

Alina Zagitova and Evgenia Medvedeva took gold and silver respectively -- but this Olympics, they too have been eclipsed.

Both say they cannot match the "quad squad" of Valieva, Trusova and Shcherbakova -- a reference to the trio's ability to perform quadruple jumps, where the skater rotates four times in the air.

Experts say quads are easier for younger women who have not yet gone through puberty, and are lighter and more aerodynamic.

- 'Too dangerous' -

Now 19, Zagitova told the Olympic news site that quads were "too dangerous" for her to do and that she would need to lose weight to be able to attempt one.

Medvedeva has been plagued by injuries, including one to her back that she says left her only able to jump in one direction at the age of 22.

Zagitova, who is working as a broadcaster at the Beijing Games, said it was hard for her to watch figure skating.

"You still get the same feelings in your soul," she said. "There's a feeling of euphoria, as if you yourself were out on the ice."

Shcherbakova and Trusova have been dogged by speculation they are skating through injuries this season.

But after Tuesday's short programme, asked whether her coach's methods were too harsh, second-placed Shcherbakova was defiant.

"I've been in her group since I was nine," she scowled.

"If I’m not changing the coach, it means that I like this coach. We are very fruitful together, we are achieving a lot, as you see."

reb/pst