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The Olympic Games have the power to generate some extraordinary stories. Just think of Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards at Calgary, AB, at the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary, AB, or the Canadian men’s hockey team striking gold in 2002 in Salt Lake City, UT, USA. Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong—an African skier who lives in the UK and is known as the “Snow leopard of Ghana”—hopes to add his tale to that list at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, BC, next year.

Nkrumah-Acheampong and his family—in this case his wife, son, daughter and niece—are the second group to fly to Canada this summer as part of the Canadian Tourism Commission’s (CTC) “Connecting with Canadians” program. The CTC and its national tourism partners are organizing authentic Canadian experiences for Olympic and Paralympic athletes and their families leading up to the 2010 Winter Games. In this instance, CTC-UK helped coordinate the visit.

Nkrumah-Acheampong first got the ski bug in a most unlikely location: the southern commuter town of Milton Keynes, UK. After a childhood travelling from one country to another—Ghana, Scotland, Zambia, Nigeria and Benin—a job at the Milton Keynes indoor ski dome set him on the path to the Games. He and his family also winter each year in Pampeago–Val di Fiemme, Italy.

Nkrumah-Acheampong’s clan will start on July 22 with a five-day stay in Whistler, BC, organized in conjunction with Tourism Whistler and Tourism British Columbia. (It should be somewhat warmer than when he returns to compete in February 2010.) Then, it’s off to eastern Canada, in partnership with Tourism Quebec, to take in Montréal, Québec City and Mont Tremblant, QC. A local TV crew will be on hand to film the Nkrumah-Acheampongs’ adventures.

The trip is all part of CTC’s 2010 Winter Games tourism strategy: to boost awareness of Canada’s tourism brand—“Canada. Keep exploring”—and enhance Canada’s image as a premier tourism destination.

Nkrumah-Acheampong remains humbled by the whole experience, saying he only set his sights on the 2010 Winter Games against his better judgment.

“I worked as hard as I could, coupled with being a husband, dad, manager, racer, technical man and PR manager for myself,” he says. “I can only thank God for this gift of being an Olympian he has granted me.”