Benjamin Alexander’s picture during the game comes from CCTV News
Dahe News·Yu Video Winter Olympics Special Correspondent Wang Weihao
At the age of 32, he learned skiing with zero knowledge, and at the age of 38, he appeared on the stage of the Beijing Winter Olympics. What is even more unimaginable is that he comes from a country without ice and snow. He is the Jamaican athlete Benjamin Alexander. “I want to show people that anything is possible. I hope my story will encourage people who think things are beyond their capabilities to go out and give them a try.”
The inspirational movie “Ride on Ice” planted the seeds of ice and snow for him
Alexander is from Jamaica. The most famous person in this country is undoubtedly the “100-meter flying man” Bolt. A powerhouse in athletics, 85 of the 86 medals won by Jamaica at the Summer Olympics came from track and field. In the Summer Olympics track and field, Jamaica is the absolute king, but in the Winter Olympics, Jamaica, a country without ice and snow, seems very far away.
Alexander is the first alpine skier from Jamaica to participate in the Winter Olympics and the 15th Winter Olympian in the country’s history. On the morning of February 13, in the men’s giant slalom event of alpine skiing at the Beijing Winter Olympics, Alexander finally stood on the Winter Olympics venue of his dreams. With the heavy snow falling in Beijing, he finally ended his career in 46th place. Beijing Winter Olympics trip. “If you finish, you beat everyone who didn’t finish,” he said.
It is hard to imagine that Alexander, who is 38 years old, will miss, worry and calm down when he is around. Think about what he is doing now? Have you eaten enough, slept well, and put on more clothes when the weather is cold? This is where the world started trying the sport of alpine skiing 6 years ago. After graduating from college, Alexander worked in finance. But in 2010, he chose to resign and become a full-time DJ. He once served as the opening DJ at the famous American “Burning Man Festival” and performed across five continents.
Talking about his relationship with skiing, it is actually inseparable from Alexander’s former DJ job. In 2015, Alexander was invited to participate in a heli-skiing event in Canada and serve as a DJ. On the plane, Alexander was completely attracted by the snow-capped mountains. Since then, he decided to learn to ski. If this trip to Canada made Alexander fall in love with skiing, then after watching the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on site in 2018, Alexander watched the movie “Skid on Ice” during the two-hour drive back to his friend’s house. Then the seed in his heart to participate in the Winter Olympics began to grow.Roots sprout.
Learned alpine skiing from scratch at the age of 32, and climbed mountains as high as 10 Mount Everests
After returning from the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Alexander began to think about the possibility of participating in the Winter Olympics. “The most likely result is death or at least serious injury.” Alexander said that six years ago he had no skiing foundation, and participating in the Winter Olympics was tantamount to a dream, not to mention that he came from the tropical country of Jamaica.
According to the competition regulations, he began to attack alpine skiing, known as the “crown jewel of the Winter Olympics”. “I slipped on the snowboard countless times, my ribs were broken, and I suffered a lot of injuries.” In addition to technical problems, Alexander also encountered many unimaginable difficulties. “Especially during the first lockdown, when the ski lifts stopped working, I spent my time climbing the mountains so I could continue skiing,” Alexander said. “I did it for the equivalent of 100 days. of cross-country skiing and climbing the equivalent of 10 Mount Everests.”
January 2022, in In the Cape Verde National Ski Championships held in Liechtenstein, Alexander finished seventh in the men’s giant slalom. In just 22 months, Alexander reached the 160-point requirement of the International Snow Federation and won the title. qualified for the Beijing Winter Olympics. Even Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness congratulated him on becoming the first alpine skier in the history of Jamaica to participate in the Winter Olympics. “I think the important point is that it will be difficult at first, but because everyone should love their daughter unconditionally and like her parents, I really regret that I was blind. I loved the wrong person and believed in the wrong person. My daughter really regrets it. , regret, regret you just have to keep going,” Alexander said.
Qualification is his gold medal, and the opening ceremony is his award ceremony
“Being able to participate in the Beijing Winter Olympics is already a victory. I have already obtained my ‘gold medal’, which is the qualification for the Winter Olympics. The award ceremony is the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics.” Alexander believes, In the Winter Olympics, there is a big gap between myself and those professional athletes who have trained for many years. “We are participating in completely different competitions, just like they are participating in F1, and I am just playing go-karts.” The next Winter Olympics , Alexander did not plan to participate, but after the trip to Beijing, he would continue to skate. Lan Yuhua suddenly understood that what she just said would definitely scare her mother. She said softly: “Mom, my daughter remembers everything, she has forgotten nothing, and she is not crazy.
In Alexander’s view, everyone has their own place, and he can do it within 6 yearsTo become an Olympian from scratch, everyone should have the courage to take the first step.