"Olympic scandal": First ski star from Jamaica at the start - ÖSV raises serious allegations

Created: 2022-01-27 05:32

By: Matthias Mueller

Ski exotic Hubertus von Hohenlohe is Mexico's first substitute for the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.

© GEPA pictures/imago

For the first time in the history of the Olympic Winter Games, a skier from Jamaica will take part in Beijing.

The ÖSV raises serious allegations.

They concern a qualifying race that raises many questions.

Beijing - He has no coach, no team, used to be a professional DJ and has only been skiing for six years.

And yet Benjamin Alexander (38) was the first Jamaican to make it to the Olympic Games in Beijing on two skis – supervised by Dudley Stokes (59), the pilot of the Cool Runnings bobsleigh team in Calgary in 1988, among others.

Sounds like the perfect Olympic fairy tale in China.

But there are serious allegations against the ski exotic!

The fact that Alexander is "only" a Brit from Wellingborough with Caribbean roots on his father's side is a gift.

But his qualification after surviving the corona infection in December raises many questions.

At least when it comes to the Austrian Association.

"It's a scandal," said sports director Toni Giger about the Exotic Nations Cup.

Olympia 2022: Benjamin Alexander starts for Jamaica - ÖSV sports director is foaming after qualifying races

The special cup was held in Liechtenstein about two weeks ago.

National championships and national junior championships of Cape Verde and Jamaica took place there.

Alexander finished in the top ten in each of the four races.

However, there were not more than ten drivers at the start.

To qualify for the Winter Olympics, a skier needs less than 160 FIS points.

The value consists of race points from at least five starts and the surcharge (higher, the better the placement).

"The experts agree that things couldn't have gone right," says Giger about the results, which would have meant a loss of starting places for the ÖSV (the FIS found a solution afterwards).

Funny Olympic qualification?

Exotic legend Hubertus von Hohenlohe takes a stand

Also at the start was exotics legend Hubertus von Hohenlohe* (62), the first substitute for Mexico.

“These races were completely normal.

It was extremely demanding.

On the steep slope, I thought I was in Adelboden," he told the

about the allegations.

But the jet set prince also admitted: “A few runners only needed one result, such as those from Saudi Arabia or Ghana.

Only the Jamaican rider needed all four results.

He was then last in each case.

That’s how the races came about.”

Alexander himself was happy about his skiing miracle.

"To qualify, you have to overcome a lot of adversity and I've had a few of them," said the 38-year-old, who sees himself as an inspiration for the next generation and hopes that "someday someone will get a winter medal" for Jamaica.

He himself will probably be last again in the giant slalom qualification on February 13th.