Brazil at the 2010 Winter Olympics

Brazil's first Olympic Games were the 1900 Summer Olympics.[1] Their first Winter Olympics came much later, in 1992, and they have competed in every Winter Games since their debut. As of these Games, they have not won a Winter Olympics medal.[2] Snowboarder Isabel Clark Ribeiro was chosen as the flag bearer for the opening ceremony and cross-country skier Jaqueline Mourão was selected for the closing ceremony.[3][4] Clark had previously been the flag bearer at the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.[5] Mourão would go on to be the flag bearer at the 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.[6]

Maya Harrisson was born in Brazil but was adopted by a Swiss family and grew up in Europe. She competed at these Olympics at the age of 17.[7]

Men

Women

Leandro Ribela was 29 years old at the time of these Olympics, and he was making his Olympic debut.[8] He had taken up skiing at the age of 12 following a trip to Argentina.[9] In the 15 kilometre freestyle race, held on 15 February, he finished with a time of 43 minutes and 36.2 seconds. This put him in 90th place, out of 95 competitors who finished the race.[10] He would later represent Brazil again at the 2014 Winter Olympics.[11]

Jaqueline Mourão was 34 years old at the time of these Games, and was making her fourth Olympic appearance.[12] She had previously participated in the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics in the sport of cycling, and the 2006 Winter Olympics as a cross-country skier.[12][13] In Vancouver, she took part in the 10 kilometre freestyle on 15 February. She finished the race in a time of 30 minutes and 22.2 seconds.[14] This put her in 66th place out of 77 athletes who finished the race.[14] Like her teammate Ribela, she would also go on to represent Brazil four years later, this time expanding her efforts to both biathlon and cross-country skiing.[12]

Isabel Clark Ribeiro started snowboarding at the age of 18, after trying it out in California.[15] She was 33 years old at the time of the Vancouver Olympics, and had previously represented Brazil at the 2006 Turin Olympics.[16] She came in ninth place in the snowboard cross in Turin.[17] In Vancouver, the women's snowboard cross held its qualification round on 16 February.[18] Each competitor raced twice in the qualification round, with only the better of the times counting. The top 16 were able to progress to the next round of the competition.[18] In her first run, she posted a time of 1 minute and 41.10 seconds, followed by a slower time of 1 minute and 51.65 seconds.[18] Her better time still saw her in 19th place, and she was eliminated from the competition.[18] In the run up to her participation at the 2014 Winter Olympics Ribeiro said she had landed flat after a jump and injured her knee in Vancouver.[19]