Photo: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images
Haiti is currently represented by two athletes at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics — and while their presence alone carries historic weight, their uniforms have become part of a larger conversation about visibility, history, and who gets to be seen on the world’s biggest stage.
Alpine skier Richardson Viano, 23, and cross-country skier Stevenson Savart, 25, will compete wearing uniforms designed by Italian-Haitian designer Stella Jean, whose original concept featured imagery of Toussaint Louverture, the architect of the Haitian Revolution and a central figure in the founding of the world’s first Black republic in 1804.
That design, however, was altered after the International Olympic Committee ruled that Louverture’s image violated Olympic rules prohibiting political symbolism. The IOC did not publicly explain why the revolutionary leader’s likeness was deemed political, but the Olympic Charter bars political, religious, or racial propaganda at Olympic venues.
Rather than abandon the symbolism altogether, Jean reworked the design. Italian artisans painted over Louverture’s figure while preserving the powerful image of his red horse charging forward — a visual Jean described as inseparable from Haiti’s legacy. The final uniform features the word “Haiti” against an open sky, a choice meant to assert presence without violating Olympic rules.
“Haiti’s presence at the Winter Olympics is a symbol,” Haiti’s ambassador to Italy, Gandy Thomas, told the Associated Press. “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.”
Jean also designed ceremonial looks for women in Haiti’s delegation that include gold hoop earrings and a tignon, the headwrap Black women were historically forced to wear under colonial rule — a detail meant to acknowledge both survival and resistance. “In these few meters of cloth, we must concentrate all of history and a message,” Jean said.
Haiti’s journey to the Winter Games began after the 2010 earthquake, when the Haitian Ski Federation was formed amid international support. The federation now includes seven athletes, with Viano and Savart qualifying for Milan-Cortina with assistance from the IOC’s Olympic Solidarity program, which helps cover training, equipment, and travel.
Viano made history as Haiti’s first Winter Olympian at the 2022 Beijing Games, finishing 34th in men’s slalom. Adopted by an Italian family in France as a child, he originally competed for France before connecting with the Haitian Ski Federation and securing a Haitian passport.
Savart, also adopted by a French family at age three, turned to Haiti after narrowly missing qualification for France. He will compete in the men’s 20-kilometer skiathlon, knowing he is unlikely to contend for medals — but fully aware of what representation means.
“Having Haiti visible will give me even more energy,” Savart said.
For Haitians at home and across the diaspora, that visibility matters. “Standing elbow to elbow with your peers on that stage is cultural capital,” Cathleen Jeanty, a Haitian-American from New Jersey who plans to tune in, told the AP. “People don’t always realize how powerful that is.”
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