In response, Angelica and Gary di Silvestri created the Dominica Ski Federation and qualified for the games.

[1] Angelica was born and raised in Italy and Gary was from the United States.

[6] The appearance of the di Silvestris received criticism from several journalists; neither athlete had any familial ties to Dominica or had ever resided there, and they had only visited the island on a single occasion.

They received Dominican citizenship from an investment program and qualified for the Games by competing in low-level races where they finished among the last-place skiers, but earned some qualifying points simply by virtue of being finishers.

[7][8][9] Several stories cited the team as examples for the need to close loopholes in both acquisition of citizenship and in maintaining competitive qualifying standards for the Games.