Former DJ Benjamin Alexander To Become First Skier To Represent Jamaica At Winter Olympics

The 38-year-old Benjamin Alexander, a former renowned DJ, is set to become Jamaica’s first Alpine skier at the approaching Winter Olympics after taking up the sport in just 2015 with no full-time coach. He managed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics after finishing seventh at the Cape Verde National Ski Championships on the 12^th of January 2022. Previously, Alexander was an internationally distinguished DJ who played major festivals, such as Burning Man in the US, and now that he is becoming the first skier to represent Jamaica, Alexander is continuing to add to his book of achievements in his life.

Benjamin Alexander reportedly admits that he stands little chance against the sports elites, as many have been skiing for longer than him and have invested a lot of money and time into their training and career over the years. He hopes he inspires others from smaller countries and tropical climates to chase dream and be brave to nourish them.

However, an amazing mentor by Alexander’s side and someone who keeps in touch every day, is none other than Dudley Stokes, who competed in the 1988 Olympics. Dudley Stokes was the founding member of the Jamaica Bobsleigh team, commemorated in the film ‘Cool Runnings’.

Alexander said, “I was just kind of bitching and moaning about the lack of having one voice in my journey, and Dudley listens… and at the end, he says, ‘Well look, for the first six years of my professional bobsledding career, I didn’t have one coach either’. He says, ‘You’re smart enough to be able to take concepts and ideas from all these different people and take the best and use it to your advantage and just forget the rest and actually have this amalgamation of coaching advice that might actually be better than just being stuck with one mediocre or one poor coach’. And just when you’re doing this thing, that’s very lonely, you know, I’m in the middle of nowhere in Austria, and my life is all about skiing and is a complete change from what my life was before as a DJ. Just having someone that you can bitch and moan to, and that can give you those little nuggets of advice.”

Speaking to Olympics about his DJing experience and life, he said, “It would not be uncommon to wake up at 10pm to go and have a dinner and you know, the Spaniards love to eat late, so go and have a dinner at 11.30pm, walk into a nightclub at 2am or 3am and leave the nightclub at 11am and go to an after-party and maybe get back home at 6pm or something like that. And then think about catching a couple of hours sleep and then waking up at 10pm again.”

It was in 2015 when Benjamin Alexander first discovered skiing on a trip to Canada. A few months later he was in Whistler and took the opportunity to take ski lessons, where he was falling down time after time, but enjoyed the process of improving. Two years after that, he was back on the trip as a skier but better.

Follow Benjamin Alexander for updates on his life and experience as a skier!