Singapore's First Winter Olympian Trained on Roller Skates

When you're from a country with zero mountains and temperatures that never drop below 70°F, becoming an Olympic skier requires some creative problem solving.

Faiz Basha just became Singapore's first winter sports athlete to compete at the Olympics, and his journey involved inline skating around a national stadium during military service. The 23-year-old will compete in giant slalom and slalom at the Milano Cortina Games this weekend, representing a nation where winter sports were barely a concept until now.

Basha's story began when his family moved to Switzerland when he was three. His Singaporean mother fell in love with skiing in their new Alpine home, and soon young Faiz was learning alongside her.

"We were learning about things as we go along because we don't have the culture, we don't have the history in the sport," Basha explained. By 14, he was competing internationally, earning a reputation from coaches as "reckless" and "unhinged" on the slopes.

Then came the challenge. Singapore's mandatory military service pulled him away from snow for two years, limiting him to just five days of skiing annually. Most athletes would see this as career-ending, but Basha saw it as a puzzle to solve.

He strapped on inline skates and trained wherever he could find pavement. "It was the only way that I could figure out how to simulate the skiing feeling," he said. The roller skates forced him to commit to movements the same way skis do, building muscle memory even without snow beneath his feet.

Why This Inspires

When Basha returned to competitive skiing after his service, something remarkable happened. His speed had improved dramatically, and he made what he calls "a really big jump in performance." The unconventional training worked better than anyone expected.

His message to curious onlookers captures his entire philosophy: "No, we don't really have mountains or snow or really any cold temperature at all. We work with what we have. If I have to train on roller skates around the national stadium, then that's what I will do."

Basha knows he's unlikely to medal at these Games. That was never the point. He wants to ski at the level he's reached in training and feel like he gave everything without holding back.

He's honest about the difficulty of his path, acknowledging that living in Switzerland made his dream possible and cautioning others from tropical nations about the costs and challenges. Singapore's only other Winter Olympics appearance was speed skater Cheyenne Goh in 2018.

But impossible dreams have a funny way of inspiring the next generation to try anyway.