Haiti makes Winter Olympics debut with hand-painted uniforms

18:20

By: Dakir Madiha

Haiti makes Winter Olympics debut with hand-painted uniforms

Haiti’s two-athlete delegation to the Winter Olympics made its debut at the opening ceremony at San Siro stadium on Friday wearing hand-painted uniforms that drew international attention, not only for their artistic flair but also for the political controversy surrounding their creation.

The striking ceremonial outfits, designed by Italian-Haitian fashion designer Stella Jean and produced by former Italian ski champion Pietro Vitalini, feature a red horse in full gallop set against lush tropical vegetation. According to multiple sources, they are the only hand-painted garments worn by any team at the Games.

The designs underwent a dramatic last-minute change after the International Olympic Committee blocked the original concept, which depicted Toussaint Louverture, the revolutionary leader who led Haiti to become the world’s first Black republic in 1804. The IOC ruled that the imagery violated Olympic Charter rules banning political symbols within Olympic venues.

Jean’s original design was inspired by a painting by Haitian artist Édouard Duval-Carrié showing Louverture riding a red horse. Following the IOC’s intervention, Jean enlisted Italian artisans to remove the human figure, leaving only the galloping horse beneath a blue sky bearing the word “Haiti.”

Jean told the Associated Press at a private presentation hosted at Haiti’s embassy in Rome that the rules had to be respected. She said it was nonetheless essential for the horse to remain, describing it as the general’s horse and a lasting symbol of Haiti’s presence at the Olympics.

The women’s ceremonial outfit includes gold hoop earrings and a traditional Haitian tignon, a headwrap historically imposed on enslaved women by colonial authorities and later reclaimed as a symbol of cultural pride.

Haiti’s ambassador to Italy, Gandy Thomas, described the country’s participation as a deliberate act of symbolism at a time when criminal gangs control about 90 percent of Port-au-Prince after years of political instability. He told the Associated Press that Haiti’s appearance at the Winter Olympics was a statement rather than a coincidence, arguing that absence is the most dangerous form of erasure.

The Caribbean nation’s delegation consists of alpine skier Richardson Viano, 23, who became Haiti’s first Winter Olympic athlete at the Beijing Games in 2022, and cross-country skier Stevenson Savart, 25, the country’s first Olympic competitor in that discipline. Both athletes were born in Haiti and adopted by families in France as children.

Jean said the uniforms were meant to concentrate history and meaning into just a few meters of fabric, carrying a message of resilience and presence onto the Olympic stage.