A lot of the medals for the Winter Olympics are gained by about 10 international locations largely from Nordic and different rich locations like the USA. What’s it prefer to compete within the Olympics the place you haven’t any likelihood of even coming near profitable a medal?
On The Small Enterprise Radio Present this week, I discuss with Benajmin Alexander who’s Jamaica’s first alpine snowboarding Olympian having competed within the Beijing Winter Video games. He’s an unlikely Olympian since he began snowboarding at 32 and is from a rustic with no snow! With no likelihood of profitable a medal, his story jogged my memory of about ‘Cool Runnings’, the 1988 Jamaican bobsled crew. Benjamin additionally grew to become the flag bearer for Jamaica on the opening ceremonies.
Benjamin began snowboarding six years in the past after a worldwide profession as a DJ. He would journey round with associates and attempt to sustain with them on the slopes.
When the Olympic committee tried to advertise athletes from smaller international locations to take part within the video games, he determined to see if he might qualify from Jamaica. Benjamin notes that “if the Olympics is simply in regards to the 10 international locations who suck up all of the medals, then the opposite 190 international locations get bored, and that’s dangerous for all of us”.
As the primary racer to qualify from Jamaica, there wasn’t a snowboarding federation that would help him. His coaching effort had been all self-funded and he “wracked up $100,000 price of debt”. Benjamin provides that “the common Olympian $50,000 to $70,000 in debt.” Happily, afterwards, he was capable of finding sponsors due to the push for variety in sports activities to pay most of this again.
Benjamin has a repute for being “completely fearless”. He attributes his bravery to a lack of awareness in regards to the sport; “I used to be fearless out of naiveté”.
Picture: Depositphotos
