Slippery Slope.(Iranian Olympic skier)(Brief Article)

I'm from a small ski resort in northern Iran, where my brothers and father taught me to ski when I was 5. At 18, I was bitten by the Olympic bug. Now, at 22, my goal is not to win a medal. It is to perform better than the countries that have financial means and technology similar to Iran's.

My only teammate, cross-country skier Mostafa Mirhashemi (he's on the left, I'm in the middle), and I were slightly apprehensive when we arrived Feb. 6 at Chicago's O'Hare airport. Olympic officials sped us through the check-in process faster than anyone else. We were so happy that we weren't fingerprinted and our luggage wasn't checked. The U.S. State Department asked the Immigration and Naturalization Service to waive the fingerprinting it usually requires of Middle Easterners. I understand if somebody wants to research my background. But I do not want to feel like a criminal. If they couldn't tell the difference between an Olympic athlete and a terrorist, then coming here would've been senseless.

But I'm glad we made it because these Games represent many firsts. It's the first time an Iranian team has competed in an Olympics in the United States, it's the first time Mustafa and I have been in the Olympics and it's the first time we've been to America. Everyone at the Olympic Village has made a special effort to make us feel welcome. We feel relieved that we are treated like every other athlete. Security is tight, as it should be, considering there are 83 nationalities represented here--and because since September 11, the American government has been worried.

The athletes we hang out with come from the countries that we often compete against, including Turkey, South Korea and Japan. We hope to make friends; the purpose of the Olympics is friendship among nations. All teams seem to be very respectful. We've had only positive experiences among all people in the village. The exception is Israel. We have not run into the Israeli team. Even if we did see them, we wouldn't speak to them because they're committing violence against Muslims.

Otherwise, the food is good, plentiful and from all over. I've tried everything--Italian and lots of vegetables. But I haven't tried Japanese; I don't think I could work the ...