Haiti has never sent a male gymnast to the Olympics in the 124 years since it began competing in the games. But Pierre Yevenel Stephan plans to change that.
“Being the first Haitian gymnast, this is still Haiti’s first participation in the Olympic Games in this discipline, and it would be an honor for me to take part and go down in the history of my sport and my country,” Stephan, 24, said in an interview.
Stephan is charting a path toward Olympic competition this summer, which began with a packed schedule of international tournaments for the last two years, while wearing his home country’s uniform.
“I’m very close to taking part in the Olympics,” he said. “That’s why I’m working hard in training to be ready for any eventuality and not to be ridiculed when I take part.”
Stephan’s Olympic journey symbolizes a new chapter for Haiti in the sport and for Haiti in general as its capital, Port-au-Prince, is embroiled in rampant gang violence and political upheaval. The history of Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, at the Summer Olympics is sparse, with only two medals to its name: a silver in team shooting at Paris 1924 and a bronze in the long jump at Amsterdam 1928. So, Stephan hopes his participation adds a new dimension to Haiti’s Olympic legacy.
Charlotte Boyer, a 22-year-old epee fencer, said she is determined to make her home country proud, too, even if she is less connected to it.
Boyer was born in Haiti but grew up in Lyon, France. That blend of cultural backgrounds enriches her identity and, she said, adds complexity to her representation of Haiti.
“It’s been a long time since I returned to Haiti,” she said. “And because of the current situation, I think it will be even more complicated.”
Boyer, a sports law student at the Université De Lille in France, discovered her passion for fencing at 7 and has been competing for 10 years. She sees representing Haiti at the Olympics as a chance to inspire young Haitians to excel in sports, even in challenging circumstances.
The sociopolitical climate in Haiti has made it challenging for her and the other athletes who spoke with NBC News to connect with their birthplace, a reality many in the Haitian diaspora face. Despite those obstacles, her commitment to representing Haiti remains unwavering.
“If I am qualified, it will be my first Olympic Games, but I hope they will not be my last,” she said.
For Stephan, gymnastics training began at age 4, just a year after he was adopted from a Port-au-Prince orphanage by French parents. Similar to Boyer, Stephan said his dual heritage and the ability to represent Haiti are important to him.
Stephan keeps in contact with family members in Haiti through WhatsApp, even if the turmoil in Port-au-Prince can weigh heavily on him.
“I haven’t had much opportunity to go to Haiti, between the natural disasters and the insecurity,” he said. “But I’ve been planning to for a while, because I’ve got lots of people to meet and things to do. Especially as I represent Haiti in my sport, it’s my duty to return to my native land.”
Despite the distance, Stephan maintains a strong connection with people there.
“I talk to people in Haiti, and yes, they’re worried about the current situation, but I’m convinced that it will change for the better and everything will become prosperous again,” he said.
While Stephan and Boyer found their sports as children, Kathreen “Kat” Marie Sterling came to boxing at 22.
Sterling’s family is from Haiti; she was born in Queens, New York, and raised in Philadelphia. She fights at 50kg, or 110 pounds, and is awaiting competition in the Olympic qualification tournament in Thailand to represent Haiti, as she has done in previous global competitions.
“Should everything go as planned,” she said in early May, “I will leave Thailand with my Olympic qualification to compete in Paris in a couple of months.”
Sterling broke ground as the first woman to box for Haiti at the 2023 Pan American Games after the category opened to women in 2011. Women’s boxing was introduced in Olympic competition in 2012, and while male boxers have represented Haiti internationally, Sterling could be the first female boxer to represent it if she qualifies.
The violent situation in Haiti adds another layer of complexity to Sterling’s journey. While she doesn’t have immediate family members in Haiti, she and her family in the States have helped extended family members who have had to navigate the crisis and flee Port-au-Prince.
Despite financial constraints and the lack of a centralized training facility for Haitian athletes, Sterling remains committed to her sport. She has self-funded her early international competitions, showcasing her determination to represent Haiti on the global stage.
“Last year was a good year for competing internationally and traveling,” she said. “I went to my second world championships representing Haiti. So there was a lot of consistent international activity. And I think that really started to make clear for me OK, this is what I’m here for.”
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