COMPETING WITH THE DEAD

SKIING

Mexico’s Olympic ski team in Pyeongchang may be small, but it is mighty. That will happen when Death is your companion on the slopes. The country’s two Alpine skiers in the Winter Games are wearing fabulous outfits that carry a “Day of the Dead” theme, an homage to the country’s famous Dia de los Muertos, a holiday on which families and friends pray for and remember those who have died. The outfits, which feature colourful, bejeweled and beflowered skulls on a black background, follow in the proud tradition of Hubertus von Hohenlohe, 59, who designed them and represented Mexico in six Winter Games. In Sochi in 2014, von Hohenlohe memorably wore a mariachi outfit, and in Vancouver in 2010, he went with a desperado look. He failed in his attempt to become the oldest winter Olympian this year.

PATRICK SEMANSKY / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A member of Mexico’s Olympic team walks inside the Pyeongchang Olympic Village.