Kenya's alpine racer Simader makes pioneer Boit proud

Pyeongchang, South Korea (dpa) - No longer is Philip Boit the only Kenyan to have competed at an Olympic Winter Games - and he could not be more pleased.The east African country will now be looking to 19-year-old Sabrina Simader, who is competing in alpine skiing in Pyeongchang."I am the happiest guy in this whole Olympics," Boit said Saturday in comments carried on the internal Olympic information service."I thought Kenya at the Winter Olympics might die out after me. When I see Sabrina skiing it makes me very happy. Now I say to her, lift the sport of skiing in Kenya higher than where I lifted it."Former cross-country skier Boit is the only Kenyan to have competed at an Olympic Winter Games, taking part in 1998, 2002 and 2006. Now he is chef de mission for what is a one-woman team.Boit only took up skiing when he was 20, which is a different experience than Simader‘s, who grew up in Austria and was on skis as a 3-year-old.Born in Kenya, she moved to Austria in 2001 after her mother married an Austrian, and says it was her step-father who encouraged her to ski."It was my step-father‘s dream to have a Kenyan [in the Winter Olympics]. And mine, too. Kenyans are really impressed. They have been really supportive and that gives me power," she has said on her Facebook page.Simader has competed at the 2016 Youth Olympics and last year‘s world championships in St Moritz, in the super-g, slalom and giant slalom.Boit meanwhile will always remember his Olympic debut in Nagano in 1998.He finished last in the 10km classic event, some 20 minutes after gold-medal winner Bjorn Daehlie. But the Norwegian delayed the medal ceremony so he could congratulate Boit on becoming the first Kenyan winter Olympian.In his honour, Boit named his first child Daehlie.