1st Venezuelan to enter Alpine skiing at Olympics, Pardo, 'worried' about unrest back home

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia – As he prepared to become Venezuela's first Alpine skier at an Olympics, Antonio Jose Pardo Andretta had plenty on his mind about the unrest back home.

Hundreds of students in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas have spent the past week alternating between peaceful daytime protests and nighttime battles with police.

After falling near the start of the Sochi Games giant slalom on Wednesday, Pardo said he found out a day earlier that his 15-year-old daughter had attended a street rally.

Pardo told The Associated Press: "I was not very happy, because I was here. I was worried. But there's nothing I can do."