The monthly minimum temperature does not drop below 20 degrees Celsius all year round, and the monthly maximum temperature exceeds 30 degrees Celsius every month. Jamaica has set a significant record for its participation in the Beijing Winter Olympics, which s open in February.
For the first time, alpine skiing produced athletes, and bobsleigh, which became a hot topic in the movie “Cool Running”, also won the right to participate in three detailed events for the first time in history. .
The British newspaper Daily Mail told the story of Benjamin Alexander, who became the first Jamaican athlete to compete in alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics today (18th).
Born to a Jamaican father and an English mother, British-born Alexander finished seventh in the men’s National Ski Championships event in Liechtenstein last week with a combined score of 2:04.47 in the first and second rounds to qualify for the Beijing Winter Olympics.
In this 10-player competition, 3 people failed to finish, so they are practically at the bottom.
That was 9.33 seconds behind the 1:55.14 recorded by England’s Samuel Saunders, who took first place.
Given that the level of this competition itself is far from world-class, it is expected that there will be a huge gap to the top-ranked athlete at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
He wasn’t originally a skier, he was a DJ at major American festivals.
Then, in 2015, I encountered skiing for the first time in Canada and realized my dream of participating in the Olympics after 7 years of skiing.
Although Jamaica has virtually no opportunity to ski due to the year-round high temperatures, he was born in the UK and became a skier through his past activities in the US and Canada.
In addition, the Jamaican Olympic delegation said on their official social media page, “Jamaica won the four-man, two-man and women’s solo bobsleigh event at the Beijing Olympics. I did .
The process of Jamaican bobsledding competing in the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics was featured in the 1993 film “Cool Runnings” and became a hot topic.
The Jamaican delegation’s social media conveyed the atmosphere of the bobsleigh team ahead of the Beijing Olympics, saying, “It will be hot ice cream.”
In particular, the Jamaican bobsleigh team has been fundraising since November last year with the target of $194,000, or about KRW 230 million, to purchase the latest equipment, and it is known that only about $4,000 have been collected so far.
Alpine skier Alexander said: “Dudley Stokes, who was the pilot for the Jamaican bobsleigh team in the 1988 Winter Olympics, is my mentor.”
“I also watch a lot of cool racing movies, and Stokes and his team have done a really good job in Jamaican Winter Olympics history.”
Alexander said: “I started skiing when I was 32 and went to the Olympics, so age is no excuse for anyone. He gave hope to those who started the “late start” and said, “Regardless of background, socio-economic position, or race. I also want to show that everyone can practice winter sports.
He said, “I want to be a hope for the next Jamaican generation.” Asked about the expected outcome of the Winter Olympics, he replied, “Other athletes said they started skiing when they were 2 years old.”
(Photo = Jamaican Olympic team social media photo, Yonhap News)
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