It was just 2015 when engineering graduate and former DJ, Benjamin Alexander, decided to take a hobby and transform it into a larger social mission. He is aiming to bridge the gap readily seen in what many call the “more exclusive Olympics”. The Winter Olympics are already seen as quite exclusive to the very few ‘winter nations’ as, being based on snow and ice, they inevitably attract much lesser participation specially from tropical and equatorial countries. The last summer Olympics in Tokyo saw a participation from 206 countries compared to only 92 nations at the PyeongChang winter games.
Alexander is the child of a Jamaican father and an English mother and was raised in Wellingborough outside Northampton in which he had a working-class upbringing.
The 38-year British-born athlete is ranked 4722 in the world and only achieved his place at Beijing 2022 when he achieved the minimum qualifying criteria at an event in Liechtenstein on Wednesday. An accomplished DJ by trade, Alexander is not daunted by this new experience, and in fact, wholly welcomes it. It is in fact why he set on this mission to qualify in the first place.
“Realistically, my job is about going to the opening ceremony, having a good time and showing other Jamaicans, other minorities, other people who didn’t start skiing at the age of two, that crazy things can happen and dreams can come true.”
Alexander has accomplished the improbable through strategic planning, training and preparation. Through the utilization of analytical skills to discover data held by the International Ski Federation on what times he would have to reach if he was ever to qualify, he noticed that there were some routes to Olympic qualification spots left open for countries without a history of winter sport success.
Alexander will become only the 15th athlete ever to compete for Jamaica at a Winter Olympics. He went to the Pyeongchang 2018 Games as a fan, when he had not even fully decided on trying to qualify for the Olympics. However, the experience enabled him to believe that he can make that concerted effort to achieve a rare feat.
An opportunity to learn from former US skier Gordon Gray gave him that boost to truly pursue a growing dream; Gray also was very honest with Alexander:
“He pulls me aside and he says, ‘Benji, I’ll tell you what I see. Your technique is absolutely atrocious, I’ve never seen anything worse’,” says Alexander.
That was early 2019. Three years on, Alexander is getting ready to make his Olympic debut in the giant slalom event after achieving the qualification standard to reach Beijing.
The road to qualification has not been entirely easy; a positive Covid test over Christmas 2021 almost threatened to derail his attempt. But last Wednesday, at the inaugural Cape Verde National Ski Championships held in Liechtenstein, he did it.
“I’ve said many times along the way, I don’t want to take anything away from the expertise, the physical talent, hard work and determination that these elite athletes have put in, to get to that platform,” said Alexander.
“I am not going to come anywhere near these guys – if I can finish within 20 seconds of the gold medal guy, per run that is, then that will be a job well done.”
“I’m very excited to be that person that can show that it doesn’t matter what your background is, socio-economic or race, you have a place in winter sports.”
