Two Luxembourgish skiers are at the Olympic Games in Beijing right now. We got Matthieu Osch and Gwyneth ten Raa on the phone. In our interview, they told us about the atmosphere in the Olympic village, about heavy snowfalls and their athletic ambitions.

All that Gwyneth ten Raa aimed for at the Olympics, was to ride over the finishing line, wave at her family in the cameras, happy and relieved. But unfortunately, she didn’t make it that far in her first and only Olympic race ever. The 16-year-old skier dropped out of the competition last week. Nevertheless, she enjoys the experience. “It’s amazing to be here. I’ve never been out of Europe. Being at the Olympics in China is very impressive”, she says. These days, she watches sports and inspiring athletes. She supports her team member Matthieu Osch in his training.

For him, the race if not over yet. Last weekend, he participated in the giant slalom that converted into a snow chaos. “The last two weeks that we had been here, we had always nice weather, blue sky, it was sunny; but on Sunday, we had a different situation. We had a lot of snowfall, heavy wind and the sight was not good, so, it was kind of tricky. But I think in the end, it was a fair race.”” Matthieu Osch reached the finishing line 17 seconds after the winner of the race, the Swiss skier Marco Odermatt, at 28th position. “I am pretty satisfied, I made some mistakes I could have avoided. But in the end, I can take this with me for the next race.” Now he is preparing his next and last race for this year, the slalom that takes place tomorrow. Hopefully with better weather conditions.

Photo: IOC/Greg Martin