This is cool, but I'm surprised it's not much more difficult in skiing even Olympics since the IOC have been trying to stamp out no-hopers ever since Britain's "Eddie the Eagle" became legendary for his amateurish ski-jump attempts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_%22The_Eagle%22_Edwards

Eddie was a much more accomplished athlete than the Congoese swimmer who could barely get the end of the pool, and probably a better skier than your friend, but the IOC took a dim view of enthusiastic amateurs hurtling down ski-slopes in front of millions of viewers that were genuinely pleased just to see him survive the jump, and introduced qualification requirements. I'm surprised they haven't introduced them for dangerous sports like the luge as well. At least your friend had the sense to pick cross country skiing

The way to get an Olympic medal is to be naturally gifted and train every day from teens onwards, like one of my brother's friends did...

I still regret not learning to play handball in approx 2010 since the Great Britain felt compelled to enter a team at their home Olympics despite it being about the only sport British people don't play.