Madagascar at the 2006 Winter Olympics

Madagascar competed in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. The country's participation at the Games marked its Winter Olympics debut, although it had competed in the Summer Olympics since 1964. The delegation consisted of a single alpine skier, Mathieu Razanakolona, who did not win any medals. Background Madagascar first competed at the Summer Olympics at the 1964 Games in Tokyo, Japan. They participated on nine occasions prior to the 2006 Winter Olympics, where they made their Winter Olympics debut in Turin, Italy. They sent a single alpine skier, Mathieu Razanakolona. Razanakolona was born in Quebec, Canada; his mother was Canadian but his father was from Madagascar. He and his brother Philippe sought to bring international attention to the African island nation of Madagascar by having Mathieu become the first person to represent the country at the Winter Olympics. While Mathieu competed in the skiing, Philippe ran the non-profit organisation rAzAlpin.org to support this. Prior to the Turin Games, Mathieu had competed in a single FIS Alpine Ski World Cup event in Schladming, Austria, where he was disqualified after straddling a gate. Alpine skiing