Benjamin Alexander (skier) explained

Benjamin Alexander
Birth Date:1983 5, df=y
Birth Place:Wellingborough, England
Education:University College London
Occupation:Olympic athlete, DJ

Benjamin Alexander (born 8 May 1983) is a British former disc jockey and the first alpine skier to represent Jamaica in the Olympics.

Early life

Benjamin Alexander was born in Wellingborough, England to a Jamaican father, a bus driver,[1] and British mother in 1983.[2] Having won a government scholarship, he was educated at Wellingborough School, a private school in Northamptonshire.[3] At the age of 17, Alexander began DJing.[4] He began studying physics at Imperial College, London before transferring to University College London to study electrical engineering,[5] [6] graduating in 2006. After university he worked in wealth management in Hong Kong.

DJ career

In 2010, Alexander quit finance to pursue DJing professionally. He spent a decade touring in 30 different countries[7] —eventually performing at Burning Man starting in 2011.[8] By 2015, he was hosting a radio show as well as a weekly party in Ibiza, Spain while co-founding the award-winning music festival, Further Future.[9] Alexander retired from DJing in 2018 but kept his board seat with the charity Robot Heart, a well-known Burning Man camp.[10]

Skiing career

In 2016, Alexander was invited to DJ a ski trip in Whistler, British Columbia, where he had his first mountain lesson.[4] Alexander began pursuing skiing professionally at the end of 2019 after attending the 2018 Winter Olympics as a spectator.[9] He chose to represent Jamaica in international skiing as he acquired Jamaican nationality through his father.

Alexander's first official race was on 9 January 2020, and he qualified for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics on 13 January 2022.[11] In preparation of the 2022 games, Alexander maintained weekly mentorship calls with Dudley Stokes, the former Jamaican Olympic bobsledder, since the beginning of 2020.[2]

Alexander raced the giant slalom event on 13 February 2022, finishing in 46th place (last).[12]

Notes and References

  1. News: Benjamin Alexander: How I became Jamaica's first Olympic skier. Taylor. Jeremy. The Times. 13 February 2022. London.
  2. Web site: Randall. Cassidy. How Benjamin Alexander May Become Jamaica's Olympic Ski Team. live. 2022-01-19. Time. en. https://web.archive.org/web/20211210110739/https://time.com/6123468/jamaica-ski-team-2022-olympics-benjamin-alexander/ . 2021-12-10 .
  3. News: MacInnes . Paul . Benjamin Alexander: the former DJ remixing the spirit of Cool Runnings . 13 February 2022 . The Guardian . 14 January 2022 . en.
  4. Web site: Massie. Graeme. 2021-08-11. Former DJ channels ‘Cool Runnings’ as he targets Winter Olympic ski glory for Jamaica. live. 2022-01-19. The Independent. en. https://web.archive.org/web/20210814072004/https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/jamaica-skiing-winter-olympics-beijing-b1900973.html . 2021-08-14 .
  5. Web site: Newman . Richard . Beijing 2022 - Benjamin Alexander on Jamaican Olympic ski dream: 'I'm ranked 3748th - exactly where I need to be' . Eurosport . 13 February 2022 . en . 19 October 2021.
  6. News: Taylor . Jeremy . Benjamin Alexander: how I became Jamaica’s first Olympic skier . 13 February 2022 . The Times . 13 February 2022 . en.
  7. Web site: OlympicTalk. 2021-02-16. Former DJ hopes to be Jamaica's first Olympic Alpine skier. 2022-01-19. OlympicTalk NBC Sports. en-US.
  8. Web site: King. Ariel. 2022-01-18. Former Burning Man DJ to represent Jamaican ski team in Winter Olympics. live. 2022-01-19. Dancing Astronaut. en-US. https://web.archive.org/web/20220118141108/https://dancingastronaut.com/2022/01/former-burning-man-dj-to-represent-jamaican-ski-team-in-winter-olympics/ . 2022-01-18 .
  9. Web site: Gunston. Jo. From international DJ to Alpine skier – Benjamin Alexander's unique Olympic journey. live. 2022-01-19. Olympics.com. https://web.archive.org/web/20211203092025/https://olympics.com/en/news/from-international-dj-to-alpine-skier-benjamin-alexander-s-unique-olympic-journe . 2021-12-03 .
  10. Web site: Andrews. Steve. Meet Benjamin Alexander, Jamaica's First (and Only) Olympic Ski Racer. 2022-01-19. The Inertia. en-US.
  11. Web site: 2022-01-18. Jamaican Benjamin Alexander beat odds to qualify for giant slalom. 2022-01-19. The Japan Times. en-US. 19 January 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220119214841/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2022/01/18/olympics/winter-olympics/alexander-alpine-skiing-jamaica/. dead.
  12. Web site: Men's giant slalom results. FIS. 13 February 2022. 13 February 2022.

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