Dear Mr. Shrestha
Thank you for your mails copied below. I note that you have not yet answered some essential matters detailed in my mail dated 20th July; hence my delayed response.

Please send by PDF or JPEG my copy of the scholarship contract signed by all three parties in accordance with the regulations laid down by Olympic Solidarity. I believe this contract should stipulate the period of the scholarship, the monthly allowance paid by the IOC, the total air fare grant and the budget allocation. Plainly no training schedule may be arranged without such data.

The following matters may be of further interest to you.

As the delayed start date significantly affects me, I would also request an explanation of your assertion that my scholarship was delayed because of Mr. Morley. As I understand it, the NOC did not forward either me or Mr. Morley the actual contract page for me to sign for over 2 months after they received it. Furthermore the NOC had not responded to my completed contract for a further month when Mr. Morley felt obliged to raise the issue with the IOC because of the rapidly closing season. Indeed I understand the NOC continued to deny a response on the matter, even directly to the IOC, for another 2 months after that. I therefore find your reasoning difficult to understand.

Regarding your paragraph concerning Mr. Sherpa (referred to as Mr Dachiri) there seems to be no apparent reason for its conveyance other than as a reprimand. Accordingly I feel considerably insulted.

Whilst I have every respect for Mr. Sherpa’s excellent sporting spirit and achievement, you should appreciate that Ski Du Fond is an entirely different sport from Alpine racing and that any simplistic comparison between us is therefore invalid. It is rather like comparing a road cyclist with a Formula 1 driver. We may use the same surface but the method of propulsion and the equipment needed is entirely different.

Alpine racing is vastly more expensive, dangerous and technical than Ski Du Fond. The equipment, facility usage, safety measures and training costs involved in Alpine racing are certainly 5 times greater if not more. Moreover Mr. Sherpa lives and works near a suitable training facility. For visa reasons it is impossible for me to do the same. Hence my personal expenses are vastly higher than his.

Furthermore you write that Mr. Sherpa has ‘bagged second position’ implying that my performance has been inferior. I cannot find any record of his 2nd position in any registered race but you should nonetheless appreciate that our sporting level is measured through FIS points and not our race positions in any event. The difficulty of courses and the strength of competitors can vary greatly. Only a direct measure against the world’s leading athletes in each of our disciplines can effectively measure us against each other. You should note that my FIS score is considerably better than Mr. Sherpa despite the greater hurdles involved for me.

Mr. Sherpa has qualified for the Olympics ahead of me simply because the qualification standard in Ski Du Fond is purposefully easier than in Alpine racing. This is to ensure a very high standard in Alpine racing for safety reasons. Accordingly whilst I need 140 FIS points to qualify Mr. Sheropa needed only 300. (FIS scores are measured as penalties rather than positive points) You may note that I am some 10 points (or a half second) outside my required level whilst Mr. Sherpa is only the same score inside his even though it is much easier. And yet you suggest that my performance has been inferior.

You also comment upon Mr. Sherpa’s fine nationalism thereby implying that he is a better Nepali than I. May I point out that I have flown our national flag outside our base continuously throughout my career and carried it in international competition on many occasions. Our nation and our ski team are legends across the region in France where we have trained. The French cheer us down the race course as if we are their own. Dozens of our friends in France have visited Nepal as a direct consequence of knowing the team. You may therefore understand why I feel your comment to be extremely hurtful and utterly unnecessary.

Having participated in Alpine racing for Nepal over nearly 8 years I am alarmed that the national authorities have such limited appreciation of the considerable practical and financial difficulties involved in reaching the top levels of this prestigious sport. I believe it beneficial for our progress in Alpine skiing if at least one person in the administration of the sport actually had some personal experience and achievement in Alpine ski racing. Perhaps the entire sadness of the past six months could have been avoided had this been the case.

Please therefore do not be offended if I feel obliged to explain herein some essential aspects of the sport in detail.

Sincerely Yours
Shyam Dhakal.