Current Events - Manon Ouaiss

Lebanon, a Mediterranean country with pristine mountains, cosmopolitan and historic cities, and breathtaking coastlines, has sent the skilled and determined Manon Ouaiss to Beijing. Ouaiss, Lebanon’s only female athle

te competing at this year’s Winter Olympics, has been sliding down slopes since she was three years old. In an interview with The National, Ouaiss said she started skiing “as soon as she learned to walk.” As a child, she would frequent Lebanon’s mountains to ski with her family; it was in the snow-capped peaks of Lebanon that she discovered her passion for alpine skiing.

After skiing in her native Lebanon for most of her life, 21-year-old Ouaiss launched her career as a professional athlete six years ago, winning a silver medal at the 2016 Asian Alpine Ski Championships. Following several competitions where she received no medals and her relocation to France to study law, the Lebanese skier went on to earn three gold medals at the 2021 Alpine Skiing Small Evolving Nations Cup.

Yet Ouaiss’s triumphs have not been without lofty hurdles along the journey; while attempting to qualify for the 2018 Winter Olympics, Ouaiss broke her collarbone and tore her ligament completely, eliminating her from the race and crushing her spirit. Subsequently, due to Lebanon not having the means to support its representatives to the Olympics, she had to finance her journey to the 2022 Winter Olympics completely by herself. Ouaiss was able to demolish both of these barriers and establish herself as an inspirational figure for people — proving how resilient she is and accomplishing her mission of successfully bulldozing the tough impediments that can appear in an athlete’s life.

While people in Lebanon cheer her on, Ouaiss has recently been enjoying the Olympics; she told The National that she has become acquainted with Olympians from all over the world in Beijing and that the overall atmosphere of the competitions is very amicable. Although she did not win any medals in the Women’s Giant Slalom or Women’s Slalom competitions, she did metaphorically win a medal in one great thing — showing that Lebanon and Lebanese people are so much more than the troubles that they face.