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The first nation -

While not quite tropical, Mexico was the first 'warm country' to participate in the Winter Olympics. They sent a bobsleigh team in 1928.

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Mexico -

It was decades until Mexican alpine skier Prince Hubertus of Hohenlohe-Langenburg started competing for the country.

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India -

Shiva Keshavan was the first Indian to compete in luge at the Winter Olympics. Not only that, but he was also the youngest person to qualify for the Games in luge, at just 16.

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Philippines -

The Philippines were the first tropical country to compete in the Winter Olympics, in 1972. Juan Cipriano and Ben Nanasca were adopted by New Zealanders and ended up in Andorra, where they learned to ski.

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Philippines -

They then trained in France, Spain, and Switzerland before making it to the Olympics. Without this possibility of travel, they wouldn't have had the opportunity to train in the right condition for their sport. The country has since participated in the Winter Olympics.

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Jamaica -

Jamaica made history when their 1988 bobsled team participated in the Winter Olympics. So much so that their story inspired the 1993 movie 'Cool Runnings.'

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Jamaica -

According to Today, "The team trained everywhere from the Jamaica Defense Force base to Austria to Lake Placid, New York, using borrowed equipment and makeshift training facilities, like grass and concrete tracks."

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Jamaica -

The team of underdogs returned to the Winter Olympics and Jamaica became a noticed presence at the Games.

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Brazil -

Eric Maleson, Edson Bindilatti, and Ricardo Raschin formed the bobsled team known as the "Frozen Bananas." They went on to compete at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

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Brazil -

Though they did great part of their training in Lake Placid, New York, they managed to create a a pushcart track for a sled with wheels in Brazil, where they could train.

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Brazil -

Brazil now takes a larger team of Olympians, who compete in different sports at the Winter Games. At least 11 athletes are scheduled to compete in Beijing 2022.

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Tonga -

The Pacific island nation had athlete Pita Taufatofua competing in both the Summer and Winter Olympics; in taekwondo and cross-country skiing, respectively. He also became known for wearing a traditional Tongan ta'ovala while shirtless at the opening ceremony.

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Tonga -

But while most athletes in warm countries travel to train for winter sports, Taufatofua chose not to do so. Instead, he watched races on YouTube and trained in the park using roller skis!

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Ghana -

Ghanaian skier Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong was introduced to the sport when he moved to the UK in 2000, where he worked at an indoor ski center.

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Ghana -

Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong became the first athlete to represent Ghana at the Winter Olympics in 2010. Since then, the African nation  has sent more athletes.

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U.S. Virgin Islands -

Anne Abernathy not only comes from a tropical place, but she is also the oldest female athlete to have competed in luge. She began her Olympic career in 1983, aged 30.

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U.S. Virgin Islands -

"Because I come from a country with no training facilities and started at an age when most lugers are retiring, my goal is to do the best I can possibly do, look professional on the sled and put 100% into it," said Abernathy.

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Malaysia -

It was not until 2018 that the first Malaysian athlete, figure skater Julian Yee, first represented his country. There are not many ice rinks available for him to train in Malaysia, so at 12 he went to a skating camp in South Korea.

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Malaysia -

But Yee had to step up his training and eventually moved to Canada. For 2022, the country will take two alpine skiers to the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

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Singapore -

Singapore also made its winter Olympics debut in 2018. Speed skater Cheyenne Goh was lucky enough to have emigrated to Canada when she was a child, where she had all the training conditions she needed.

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Singapore -

Though Goh didn't just bear the Singaporean flag, she actually traveled to train in the country prior to the Olympics. She remains the first, and only, athlete to represent the country in the Winter Games.

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Senegal -

Skier Lamine Guèye made history in 1984, when he became the first black African to compete in the Winter Olympics. It was at a boarding school in Switzerland where he fell in love with the sport.

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Senegal -

The African nation has been represented in subsequent Winter Games, namely the games of 1992, 1994, 2006, and 2010.

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Nigeria -

2018 was also the year this African country debuted at the Winter Olympics. Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere, and Akuoma Omeoga made Nigeria women's bobsled team. Adigun mentioned that they used a homemade wooden sled to train with at home.

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Nigeria -

But there are more trailblazers in Nigeria. Simidele Adeagbo also made history as the first black African female skeleton Olympian.

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Haiti -

Richardson Viano moved from Port-Au-Prince to France, where his stepfather taught him how to ski.

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Haiti -

Viano and Haiti will make their debut at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

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Fiji -

Rusiate Rogoyawa went to study in Norway and ended up becoming the first Fijian to compete in the Winter Games, this in 1988 for cross-country skiing.

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Fiji -

The nation went on to compete in the 1994 and 1998 Winter Olympics.

Sources: (Grunge) (Olympics)

See also: The biggest scandals in Olympic history

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