Fayik Rifat Abdi (born October 8, 1997 ) is an Olympic alpine ski racer from Saudi Arabia. He is the first Saudi Arabian ski racer to compete in the Winter Olympic Games and the first ever Winter Olympian from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. After graduating from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Abdi returned to Saudi Arabia to pursue skiing as a professional sport.
Early life and education
Abdi was born on October 8, 1997, in
San Diego, California
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
. He attended IMG Academy for high school and graduated from the
University of Utah
The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...
in 2020.
As a young boy, Abdi's mother would take him to the slopes of Lebanon, where he would practice skiing. He later started traveling to Switzerland to a winter camp, where he trained in skiing.
Career
In 2017, he worked at Snowbird as Ski Technician and then went to Alta Ski Area on the same designation in November 2019. In 2022, Abdi completed his historic participation in the giant slalom competition at the
2022 Beijing Olympics
The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...
, finishing 44th out of 91 competitors.
As of 2022, Abdi is an athlete for the Saudi Olympic & Paralympic Committee and the Saudi Olympic Training Center.
See also
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Saudi Arabia at the 2022 Winter Olympics
Saudi Arabia competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, from 4 to 20 February 2022. This marked the country's Winter Olympics debut. Saudi Arabia's team consisted of one male alpine skier, Fayik Abdi.
Abdi was the country's flagbeare ...
*
Alpine skiing at the 2022 Winter Olympics
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Alpine skiing at the 2022 Winter Olympics – Qualification
References
1997 births
Living people
Alpine skiers at the 2022 Winter Olympics
Saudi Arabian male alpine skiers
Olympic alpine skiers for Saudi Arabia
Sportspeople from San Diego
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