Latinos Competing at Beijing Winter Olympics 2022
Created: Jan. 13, 2022, Updated: Feb. 3, 2022
The Latinos and Hispanics competing at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics represent only a small percentage of the overall athletes at the games — but their ranks are impressive.
Some Latino or Hispanic athletes are making repeat appearances at the Olympic while others are breaking records for their home country or their family’s country of origin. Sports represented include bobsledding, skiing, luge, figure skating, snowboarding and skeleton.
Highlights:
Brazilian American Sabrina Cass of Park City, Utah, is the first mogul skier to represent Brazil in the Winter Olympics.
Alpine Skier Sarah Escobar, 19 who is from Sparta, NJ, is the only athlete who will represent Ecuador at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Donovan Carrillo, 22, will be the first figure skater from Mexico in 30 years.
Although most Latino Olympic athletes are representing other countries, a few are on Team USA: Alex Ferreira, Carlo Valdes and Elana Meyers Taylor. All three are veteran Olympians and Ferreira and Meyers Taylor are medal holders.
This list of athletes are divided into categories depending on their ties to the U.S., Latin America and Spain. Note that Puerto Rico is part of the United States, but competes separately in the Olympics as its own country and earns its own medals.
The Beijing Olympics will officially start on Feb. 4, with the opening ceremony, although some preliminary events are already underway. Find out how to watch the games or see a schedule of events by sport.
Latino Olympic Athletes with Ties to U.S.
Below are Latino athletes who are American (either by birth or naturalization) who are competing in the Beijing Olympics for Team USA or for other Spanish-speaking countries and Brazil.
Photo courtesy of Alex Ferreira
Alex Ferreira
Team USA
Ski Halfpipe
Alex Ferreira,27, the 2018 Olympic silver medalist in ski halfpipe, is going back to the games, according to NBC Sports. Ferreira, who is Argentine American, has enjoyed a strong season so far, having won the U.S. Grand Prix and then the Dew Tour, both in Copper Mountain, Colorado, according to Team USA.
Photo courtesy of Carlo Valdes
Carlo Valdes
Team USA
Bobsled
Carlo Valdes, who is of Mexican descent, is headed back to the winter Olympics as part of the bobsled team. He competed in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Four-Man bobsled event in PyeongChang.
Courtesy of Elana Meyers Taylor
Elana Meyers Taylor
Team USA
Bobsled
This will be Elana Meyers Taylor’s fourth Winter Olympic games representing team USA in bobsledding. Meyers Taylor, who is Jamaican and Panamanian on her dad’s side, was selected to be a U.S. flag bearer for the 2022 Beijing games but tested positive for COVID-19. She is still expected to compete in women's monobob (Feb. 13-14) and the two-woman event (Feb. 18-19). Monobob, a one-person sled, is making its Olympic debut. She already has one bronze and two silver medals from previous games. — From USA Today
Courtesy of Sabrina Cass
Sabrina Cass
Team Brazil
Ski
Sabrina Cass is the first mogul skier to ever represent Brazil in the Winter Olympics. She holds dual citizenship in the U.S and Brazil and represented Team USA in the 2020-21 season before switching to the Brazilian National Team last year. She currently lives in Park City, Utah. — From The Cheshire Herald
Courtesy of Sarah Escobar
Sarah Escobar
Team Ecuador
Ski
Sarah Escobar, 19, is making history as the lone athlete who will represent Ecuador at the 2022 Winter Olympics, becoming its first-ever female winter Olympian and its first alpine skier. She will also be a flag bearer during opening ceremonies.
Escobar is from New Jersey, and can claim dual nationality because her parents both immigrated to the U.S. from Ecuador. The giant slalom races of the Winter Olympics take place on February 7. — From NBC NECN
Photos by VR45 Photography/courtesy of Johnathan Soto Moreno
Jon Soto Moreno
Team Mexico
Ski
Jonathan “Jon” Soto Moreno, who lives in Richmond, Minnesota, will represent Mexico when he steps to the starting line for the 15-kilometer classic Feb. 11 at the Beijing Olympics.
Without a main sponsor like so many of his professional counterparts to support his traveling, training, and racing, Soto’s road to Beijing is even more impressive. In December he captured a second National Championship for Mexico while competing in British Columbia, Canada. — From Sun Current
Olympic Athletes From Latin America & Spain
Below are some of the athletes who were born and raised in Central America, South America and Spain who will be at the 2022 Winter Games. Many are returning Olympians and a few are breaking records.
Photo courtesy of Donovan Carillo
Donovan Carillo
Team Mexico
Figure Skating
Donovan Carrillo, 22, will be the first figure skater from Mexico in 30 years. In 2018, he became the first male Mexican to qualify for the International Skating Union's world junior championships. Carrillo will become just the fourth Mexican figure skater — and first since 1992 — to compete in the Winter Olympic Games. — From The Union Democrat
Courtesy Verónica Ravenna
Verónica Ravenna
Team Argentina
Luge
Born in Argentina, Ravenna and her family moved to Whistler, Canada when she was six years old. She is making history as the first woman from South American to compete in luge in two Olympic Games. At the PyeongChang Olympics she did not medal, so this will be a second chance for Verónica. — From Yahoo! Sports
Courtesy of Nicole Silveira
Nicole Silveira
Team Brazil
Skeleton
Nicole Silveira, will be the first athlete to represent Brazil in the skeleton event, according to the Brazilian Olympic committe. She’s also making headlines for competing in the skeleton event against her girlfriend, who is representing Belgium. Silveira is one of about 35 LGBTQ Beijing Winter Olympic athletes who have openly declared their status, according to OutSports.com. Of the 35, Silveira is the only athlete from Latin America.
Courtesy of Middlebury College
Michael Macedo
Team Brazil
Ski
Michel Macedo, a junior at Middlebury College in Connecticut, will represent his home country of Brazil in the upcoming Winter Games. It will be his second consecutive trip to the Olympics. Macedo raced in the Men's Super G, Men's Giant Slalom and Men's Slalom at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang. — From Middlebury College
Courtesy of Jaqueline Mourão
Jaqueline Mourão
Team Brazil
Ski
Jaqueline Mourão will be returning to the Olympics for the eighth time— a Brazilian record. She is one of the few athletes around the world who has appeared at multiple Winter and Summer Olympic games. She was last at the 2020 Tokyo games as a mountain bike athlete. She’s competed in three different sports: mountain bike, cross-country skiing and biathlon. Mourão will compete in cross country skiing at the 2022 Winter Olympics — From Terra
Courtesy of Edson Bindillati
Brazilian Bobsled Team
Team Brazil
Bobsled
Bobsledder Edson Bindilatti is set to make his fifth and final appearance at the Winter Olympics. Bindilatti, who started his sporting career as a decathlete before switching to bobsleigh, has announced that he will retire. The 42-year-old, who featured at Salt Lake City 2002, Turin 2006, Seoul 2014 and Pyeonchang 2018, has been named in the four-man team that goes by the name “Frozen Bananas” along with Edson Martins, Erick Vianna and Rafael Souza, while Jefferson Sabino has been chosen as a back-up racer. — From Inside The Games
Courtesy of Laura Gomez
Laura Gomez
Team Columbia
Speed Skate
Gómez is a 31-year-old Colombian speed skater who has competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics. During those Games, she broke a national women’s Olympic record in the 1000m speed skating event during a test competition. Gómez holds five national records in speed skating in the 500m, 1000m, 1500m, 3000m, and 5000m events. — From Remezcla
Courtesy Michael Poettoz
Michael Poettoz
Team Columbia
Ski
Born in Colombia but raised in France, Michael Poettoz was the first man to represent Colombia in Alpine Skiing at the Olympic Winter Games and he did it at PyeongChang 2018. Poettoz is on the hunt for a medal at Beijing.
Courtesy Dominique Ohaco
Dominique Ohaco
Team Chile
Ski
Dominique Ohaco is a specialist in freestyle skiing and will compete in her third Olympic Games. She was in Sochi 2014, in the acrobatic ski discipline and was also the flag bearer, and also participated in Pyeongchang 2018. — From AS
Courtesy of Ornella Oettl Reyes
Ornella Oettl Reyes
Team Peru
Ski
Ornella Oettl Reyes lives between two cultures. Her father is German and her mother is Peruvian. After a 57th place in Sochi 2014 she will participate in the slalom and the giant in Beijing. Reyes, who now lives in Austria, Germany, is the only representative from Peru at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games. — From Gestión
Courtesy of Queralt Castellet
Queralt “Q” Castellet
Team Spain
Snowboard
Beijing is Spanish snowboarder Queralt Castellet’s fifth Olympics. She’s expected to give give defending Olympic halfpipe champion Chloe Kim a run for the title. Her best Olympic result so far was seventh at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. — From Merced Star
Courtesy of Adrián Díaz
Olivia Smart and Adrián Díaz
Team Spain
Figure Skating
Adrian Diaz and Olivia Smart will travel to Beijing 2022 and be in the opening parade of the Olympic Games, on February 4. Diaz was already an Olympian in Sochi 2014 with another dance partner, Sara Hurtado from Madrid. Smart and Diaz will perform on February 12 and 14 with their rhythmic and free programs. — From RTVE
Courtesy of Ander Mirambell
Ander Mirambell
Team Spain
Skeleton
The Spanish skeleton rider Ander Mirambell will be at the Beijing 2022 Olympics, which is his fourth Winter Olympics. So far he is Spain’s first and only male skeleton racer.
Non-Latinos Competing for Spanish Speaking Countries
Below are American athletes who have become citizens of Caribbean or Latin American countries and are seeking to earn medals on behalf of their adopted countries in Beijing.
Photo courtesy of Olympics YouTube Channel
William Flaherty
Team Puerto Rico
Ski
William Flaherty,17, who is not of Latino descent, will represent his adopted home of Puerto Rico at the Winter Olympic Games. His brother Charles Flaherty was the first athlete to compete in the Olympics for the island since 1998.
Courtesy of Kellie Delka
Kellie Delka
Team Puerto Rico
Skeleton
Texas native Kellie Delka, 34, who now lives in Puerto Rico, will compete in her first Olympics representing Puerto Rico. Delka will debut on February 11 and 12, with the four heats of the skeleton event. She will be a flag bearer for Puerto Rico during the opening ceremony. — From El Vocero
Courtesy Sarah Schleper Gaxiola
Sarah Schleper Gaxiola
Team Mexico
Ski
Vail, Colorado native Sarah Schleper Gaxiola has qualified for a sixth Olympic Games, her second representing Mexico. She is a flag bearer for the opening ceremonies. Schleper Gaxiola, who is non-Latina, married a Mexican man and qualifies for dual citizenship. — From Vail Daily
The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics will start on Feb. 4, 2022 and will air on NBC, Peacock and some paid streaming services. Find out more about how to watch the Beijing Olympics or see the full list of Team USA athletes.
