Overview:
Haiti’s two Winter Olympics athletes are making history at the Milan Cortina Games wearing uniforms rich with symbolism. Designed by Stella Jean, the kits originally featured independence leader Toussaint Louverture before the IOC ordered the image removed. Despite the change, athletes and officials say Haiti’s presence on the winter stage sends a powerful message of resilience and visibility to Haitians at home and across the Haitian Diaspora.
MILAN — Haiti is fielding two athletes at the Milan Cortina Winter Games, and they will proudly wear Haitian symbols, although one less than intended after intervention by the International Olympic Committee.
The skiers will compete in uniforms designed by Italian-Haitian designer Stella Jean that originally featured an image of Toussaint Louverture, the former slave who led a revolution that created the world’s first Black republic in 1804. The IOC ruled that the image violated Olympic rules barring political symbolism, requiring Jean to come up with a creative solution: painting over the nation’s founding father.
Even so, competing on the elite global stage for winter sport is a powerful message of resilience from a tropical nation that has weathered repeated political instability and violence in recent years. Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, armed gangs have expanded their control in Port-au-Prince, fueling widespread insecurity including killings sexual violence and the recruitment of children.
Italian-Haitian designer Stella Jean, right, helps Livia Audain at the Haitian Embassy in Rome, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, wear the official uniform of the Haitian national team participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Jean gave The Associated Press an exclusive preview of the uniforms at the Haitian Embassy in Rome.
“Haiti’s presence at the Winter Olympics is a symbol, it is a statement not a coincidence,” Haiti’s ambassador to Italy Gandy Thomas said. “We may not be a winter country but we are a nation that refuses to be confined by expectation. Absence is the most dangerous form of erasing.”
Riderless horse
Jean, who also designed Haiti’s uniforms for the 2024 Paris Games, drew inspiration this time from a painting of Louverture astride a red horse by Haitian artist Edouard Duval-Carrié.
The IOC did not respond to a request for comment on why the image was deemed a violation. The Olympic Charter requires national Olympic committees to remain politically neutral and bars political religious or racial propaganda at Olympic venues.
To resolve the issue Jean enlisted Italian artisans to paint out Louverture’s figure leaving a dramatic image of a charging red horse against a lush tropical background. “Haiti” is written across the horse’s back beneath an azure sky.
“Rules are rules and must be respected and that is what we have done,” Jean said. “But for us it is important that this horse his horse the general’s horse remains. It remains the symbol of Haiti’s presence at the Olympics.”
Jean also designed outfits for women in the delegation featuring gold hoop earrings and a Haitian tignon or turban. Enslaved and free Black women were once forced to wear head coverings under colonial rule so their hair would not rival that of European women.
“We know that in these few meters of cloth in this uniform we must concentrate all of history and a message,” Jean said.
Haiti’s athletes
Haiti’s path to the Winter Games traces back to the creation of its ski federation following the devastating 2010 earthquake. The federation now counts seven athletes two of whom will compete at the Olympics with financial support from the IOC’s Olympic Solidarity program.
Richardson Viano 23 became Haiti’s first Winter Olympian at the 2022 Beijing Games finishing 34th in the men’s slalom.
Adopted by an Italian family in France at age 3 Viano initially competed for France before being approached by the Haitian Ski Federation and later securing a Haitian passport.
“When you talk about Haiti it is in catastrophic terms,” Viano said by phone from Bosnia where he was competing in pre-Games races. “This is a way to find something nice.”
The team also includes 25-year-old Stevenson Savart, Haiti’s first Olympic cross-country skier.
Adopted by a French family at age 3 Savart turned to Haiti after failing to qualify for France and is now fulfilling a lifelong dream.
“I am very proud that I can do that for Haiti,” Savart said from his training base in France. He acknowledged he expects to finish well behind the leaders in the men’s 20-kilometer skiathlon but said wearing Haiti’s uniform will be a powerful motivator.
“Having Haiti visible will give me even more energy,” he said.
Message of resilience
Thomas said he expects the athletes’ stories to resonate both in Haiti and across the Haitian Diaspora despite ongoing political uncertainty.
Cathleen Jeanty, a Haitian-American from New Jersey said she plans to watch the competitions even though she knows little about winter sports.
“People who maybe don’t come from underrepresented communities don’t realize how important cultural capital is to be able to stand elbow to elbow with your peers,” said Jeanty, 32.
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