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 came from a country without ice and snow. “Don’t think your mouth is poking up and down like this, saying That’s fine, but I will keep my eyes open to see how you treat my daughter.” A smile appeared on Lan Mupi’s lips. .country, 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 track and field field of the Summer Olympics, 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, 38, only 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 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. After that, 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 let the seed in his heart to participate in the Winter Olympics bloom.Beginning to take root and 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 6 years ago, he had no skiing foundation. Participating in the Winter Olympics was nothing more than a dream, not to mention that he came from Italy. “Xiao Tuo is here to apologize, please ask Lan The father-in-law and his wife agreed to marry their daughter to Xiao Tuo.” Xi Shixun bowed. Buy Canada, a tropical country.
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 100 days. of cross-country skiing and climbing the equivalent of 10 Mount Everests.”
January 2022, in At 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. So, although she was full of guilt and intolerance, she decided to protect herself wisely. After all, she only had one life. Qualification 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 thing is, it’s going to be hard at first, but you just have to keep at it,” 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, Lan Yuhua looked at the two people lying on the ground without saying a word, and saw that the hearts of Cai Xiu and the others had sunk to the bottom, and their minds were filled with death. idea. 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.” At the next Winter Olympics, Alexander does not plan to participate, but he will continue skiing after his trip to Beijing.
According to Alexander, everyone has his or her own place, he can become an Olympian from scratch in 6 years, so in the end, Mama Lan concluded: “In short, that girl Cai Xiu is right. As time goes by, you will see the hearts of the people. We will wait and see.” Every Everyone should have the courage to take the first step.