Benjamin Alexander persevered to become the first Jamaican to qualify for alpine skiing at a Winter Olympics, despite limited financing, the lack of a full-time coach and the inability to train consistently due to COVID-19.
“I just had to make do with what I had. I think getting to the Olympics and the struggle of getting to the Olympics is about succeeding in the face of adversity, and I have a lot of that,” Alexander said from Zurich on Sunday.
“I spoke to Dudley Stokes, the pilot of the 1988 bobsleigh team. This would have been back in October of last year, and I was frustrated that I had been seeking the advice and beg, borrowing and stealing little titbits of information from multiple different coaches, six of them in one week,” Alexander said.
Photo: AFP
“And Dudley said to me: ‘Listen Benji, you’re smart enough to be able to take ... the best of what everyone’s offering and leave the rest, and maybe for someone like you, that’s a better situation than having one intermediate or poor coach,’” he said.
The former DJ added that not having access to competition for 17 of the last 24 months because of the COVID-19 pandemic made what he did even more special.
Alexander’s place at next month’s Games in Beijing was provisionally confirmed on the Web site of the International Ski Federation on Saturday, six years after taking up the sport.
“With the bobsleighers, it’s possible to be moved out of the qualification place by other people. In skiing, my place is locked,” said the 38-year-old British-based athlete, who qualifies for the Jamaican team through his father, Keith Alexander.
He booked his ticket after placing seventh in the giant slalom on Jan. 12 at the Cape Verde National Ski Championships.
“I’m competing against people that have been skiing since the age of two, who have had their parents put [US$50,000] to US$100,000 into their training every year from the age of seven all the way through until 18... Then their national ski federations have put in US$100,000 or US$200,000 each year into making this athlete into something, and like a magician I pulled off this heroic feat, but I’m no superhuman. I’m still human,” Alexander said.
“My story is about inspiring the next generation of Jamaicans to believe that they could do something like this to get out there and try winter sports so that eventually we can bring back a medal to Jamaica,” he added.
Alexander said his career was made possible by the Jamaican bobsled team that competed in Calgary, Canada in 1988, which inspired the Cool Runnings movie five years later.
“Jamaica would not have an Alpine Olympic skier right now if it wasn’t for what the guys did in 1988. It was that movie and that story of struggle and perseverance that has given me the courage and enthusiasm to try something like this, and it’s also given me so much support because everyone in the world knows that movie,” he said.
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