"It was fun."

So said Bermuda's sole athlete in the Winter Olympics, Tucker Murphy, after completing his cross-country 15 kilometre race on Monday at the Whistler Olympic Park.

Finishing in 88th place, Murphy managed to beat out seven other skiers from (Winter Olympic) emerging nations.

Murphy trailed gold medallist Dario Cologna by only just over nine minutes, while bottom-ranked Danny Silva of Portugal was just under 16 minutes off the pace.

Murphy said: "I left a few (skiers) behind, but some also passed me. But who cares, it was fun.

"But we had the biggest fun at the Opening Ceremony when we marched in Bermuda shorts. That is our tradition. My coach (Argentina's Martin Bianchi) was shocked."

Murphy, who plans to carry the Bermuda flag at the Closing Ceremony at these Vancouver Games, said of Bianchi's response when told he must wear the bright red shorts. "He was very embarrassed. He was worried that everyone back in Argentina would see him and laugh. Then he realised that all the girls wanted to take pictures with him, so he got over it fairly quickly."

Murphy became the first Bermudian to compete in a Winter Olympic cross-country race.

However Bermuda's participation in the Winter Olympics goes back to 1992 when Simon Payne set the pace by competing in the luge at the Albertville Games. He did so again at the Lillehammer Games in 1994 and then Patrick Singleton picked up the mantle when he also competed in the luge at the 1998 Nagano Games and again at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. Singleton switched to the skeleton for the 2006 Turin Games but failed to qualify for these Games in Vancouver.

Meanwhile Bermudian pairs skater Vanessa James who teams up with with Yannick Bonheur for France, finished in 14th place after the long programme late Monday night.

And in doing so James and Bonheur became the first black couple to compete in Olympic pairs skating.

And they electrified the crowd at the Pacific Coliseum with an acrobatic free skate programme.

James and Bonheur, who met on an Internet site for competitive pairs skaters seeking partners, treated spectators to a series of high-flying jumps and high-risk lifts and throws. And it was clear that they were an audience favourite.

James has a Bermudian father and attended Mount St. Agnes until she was 10 years old before moving to the US. Although she was born in Canada, the 22-year-old has skated for Great Britain and now France.

James said she had two big reasons to feel proud on the ice on Monday night.

She was part of the first black figure skating pair in Olympic history, and she did it in the country of her birth.

Toronto-born James and partner Bonheur delighted the crowd with an elegant and technically rich routine in their free skate. They are among the few black skaters who have climbed the ranks of international figure skating and the first to reach these heights as part of a pair.

"We've actually had a few people who had come from the US to watch the Olympics and they had never seen us before, and they have children who are black figure skaters and now they want to be the best,'' James said after their routine Monday night.

"They see that it's possible so I hope we do see more black skaters in figure skating, and then we'll see more skaters.''

Bonheur said he was proud. The two were not expected to reach the podium, but skated cleanly in their second routine of the Games.

"We want to prove that blacks in figure skating can succeed. We hope that in the future we can win some medals, and bring a black touch to figure skating.''

Bonheur said he did not set out to find a black partner.

"We hope that in the future we can win many medals and have a black coach and officials in pairs skating," Bonheur said.

"I didn't search for a black girl in the first place, just a girl who wanted to try and work for it."

James, 22, has skated with Bonheur for three years. Born in Canada, she had competed for Britain as a single. She was granted French citizenship last year. She said their performance at the Winter Games showed the door had finally been opened for black pairs skaters.

They were not the first black skaters in the Olympics, however – Debi Thomas, for example, won a bronze medal at the Calgary games in 1988. Surya Bonaly of France competed in three Olympics in the 1990s.