Muhammad Abbas (born February 16, 1986) is a Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

i alpine skier

Alpine skiing

Alpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...

 who had the honor of being his nation's first competitor at the Winter Olympic Games

Winter Olympic Games

The Winter Olympic Games is a sporting event, which occurs every four years. The first celebration of the Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The original sports were alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping and speed skating...

, in 2010

2010 Winter Olympics

The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...

. Muhammad Abbas was not expected to win any medal, but he outraced some of the other debuting skiers. A group said to be particularly interested were Pakistani Canadian

Pakistani Canadian

- History in Canada :People from the region that would become Pakistan were among the pioneers who migrated from British India to British Columbia at the turn of the century. By 1905, as many as 200 participated in the building of that first community from modern-day Pakistan, which for a time had...

s.

Abbas was raised in a small village in Northern Pakistan, and his first pair of skis were carved out of wood by his father. He was discovered at age 8 by a Pakistani Air Force officer (Group Captain(R) Zahid Farooq) who remains his coach. Abbas works for the Air Force, his assignment being to ski.

2010

In the 2010 Winter Olympics he competed in the Men's Giant Slalom event. Out of the 103 skiers he finished 79th with a time of 1:38.27 in the first run and 1:42.31 in the second run, for a total time of 3:20.58, which was 42.75 seconds off the pace.