10°30' N, no snow all year round.
In 2016, under the blazing sunshine of Venezuela, a man wearing roller skates was running freely, but his mind was the ice and snow of the north country.
The man's name was Adrian. Solano, a year later, the man stepped on snowboarding and became a skier in Venezuela.
In 2017, Solano made his debut in the qualifying round of the World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland, which can be considered quite tragic, but also quite shocking.
After one event, he was called the "worst" skier of all time. However, he bravely expressed his ambition to represent Venezuela in the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Although we didn't have the chance to see him at the Beijing Winter Olympics, I still want to tell you the story of his "falling down but standing up more than 30 times".
skiing? It's refugees!
When a cook who has never seen real snow wants to participate in the World Ski Championships, what is his motivation?
Solano said his decision was simply because he liked to "try difficult things."
Venezuela, located north of the equator, north of South America, north of the Caribbean Sea, the territory except for the mountains are basically savannah climate, the average annual temperature is 26 ~ 28 °C. During the dry season it is as dry as a desert, and during the rainy season it is muddy, with only year-round snow on the summit of Merida in the northwest, but glaciers and frequent earthquakes.
Even in the barren desert, dreams can still blossom into a flower. Growing up in a tropical country, Solano never touched real snow, but he dreamed of becoming a professional skier.
Is it a fantasy? There was no snow or ice, and he decided to start rollerblading.
Led by Cesar, coach of the Venezuelan cross-country ski team, he spends his weekends practicing roller skating for 5 hours a day. "Practicing on asphalt roads is very different from practicing on the slopes, and the snow has a completely different texture."
Solano knows how funny it is to practice skiing through roller skating, but he hopes to one day represent Venezuela on real pistes and maybe even play for his country at the Olympics.
Solano's story echoes Joe Det Durbar's 1993 film On Ice.
The film is taken from the true story, in 1988, four black athletes from Jamaica, one of the tropical island countries in the Caribbean, went to Canada, faced with various unfavorable conditions such as time, geography, people and other unfavorable conditions, but also had to endure ridicule and contempt for their own domestic and foreign audiences, despite all difficulties to take Jamaica's first step to join the Winter Olympic Games, achieving a legendary story in the history of the Olympic Games.
It was an incredible team: three Jamaican sprinters and a Jamaican cart champion, plus an American coach who had won the Winter Olympics sled project twice twenty years earlier and was later discredited for cheating.
They use carts to modify without sleds, practice on the slopes without snow, and enter the ice car experience if they can't resist freezing... He successfully entered the Winter Olympic Games with his will and won the support and encouragement of athletes from all over the world.
In 2017, Venezuela decided to send Solano to the World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland.
Having a dream is only the easiest step for a person to move towards a better future. In a crisis-hit country, it was almost impossible to buy a plane ticket, with food shortages, malnutrition, refugees fleeing, and many people, including Solano, earning only a few dollars a month.
It was Solano's friends and neighbors who saved money to buy him a plane ticket and buy him a month to practice his ski skills on the snow in Sweden.
However, when he showed up at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport with 28 euros in cash, immigration officials did not believe he was a skier who was going to compete in a world-class event, or even that there were skiers in Venezuela.
"I told them we were practicing skiing on wheels and I only had 28 euros on me, and the police accused me of being a refugee because the situation in my country was terrible." Solano later said in an interview.
Five days later, he was forced to return to Venezuela.
Not everyone can stand up
But I can stand more than 30 times
It won't be particularly lucky, nor will it be particularly unlucky.
Solano's story struck a nerve in Venezuelans and sparked a minor diplomatic dispute at the time. He received the support of the state and the solidarity of the people, and the Venezuelan government intervened to demand his release.
His story also caught the attention of Finnish television personality Alexis Wallavori, who launched a crowdfunding campaign for him.
He didn't know much about Solano's story and had never heard of skiing in Venezuela, but he was touched by Solano's bravery. The online fundraiser raised more than €4,000 for Solano, which covered his trip to Finland.
But when Solano finally reached the World Ski Championships in Lahti, Finland, after several twists and turns, it was already three o'clock in the morning on the day of the race!
This young man, who had never touched snow, was amazed at the sight of snow for the first time, which surprised Valavori who had picked him up at the airport. Less than 12 hours after arriving in Finland, Solano was the first of many to walk out of the competition.
"It was the first time in my life that I was skiing in the snow," he said. "I'm scared."
As he watched, Valavori began to realize that something wasn't quite right! "Oh my God! He can't ski. This made Valavori cry and laugh.
As soon as he stepped out of the gate, he lost his balance and tripped over his skis. Solano's debut can't even be called a slide, because he spends most of his time repeating the action of falling, getting up, and falling.
In the 10 km qualifier, he completed the first 3.5 km in 37 minutes and 39 seconds, which was the time for others to complete the whole course.
On the field, such amateur skiing was so eye-catching that even commentators were stunned by his almost comedic performance, calling him the worst skier in the world. The name soon spread around the world with images.
Like the four athletes from the tropics who practiced on the slopes of a cart-modified sleigh in 1988, even if they struggled hard and insisted on fulfilling their dreams, neither "Light Ride on Ice" nor Solano's story ended with the "reunion" we were expecting.
Solano ultimately failed to pass the qualifiers.
On social media, some people support some people touched, and some people blamed.
"Awkward!" One netizen criticized Solano's Instagram for his performance on the field. He accused Solano of being able to compete under the auspices of the Venezuelan government, when countless Venezuelans were starving.
Solano only responded that he did not accept government funding but relied on the support of his friends to get on the field, but he was optimistic about the performance on the field.
Some have accused him of being the laughing stock of the world, but the 22-year-old chef, who has never seen real snow before and has only practiced skiing techniques on wheels, is delighted with his magical experience.
"I fell, but didn't give up. Not everyone can stand up, but I can stand more than 30 times. Solano said.
It's not just you who succeed, sports are great
What is the real greatness of sport?
For Forrest Gump, who has an IQ of only 75 in the movie "Forrest Gump", he was initially to avoid being chased by others, running into a school's rugby pitch, running into a university, and becoming a rugby superstar.
Later, Forrest Gump's life was to keep running.
▲ In the movie "Forrest Gump", Forrest Gump changed his fate because of running, but his understanding of running is very pure, just running freely.
For the British skier Michael Scott who suffers from high myopia in the movie "Eddie the Eagle". For Edwards, it is the little people who dare to pursue big dreams, and they have changed from alpine skiing to ski jumping for the Olympic dream.
He said: "All the teams kicked me out before I could prove themselves, so I needed my performance moments. ”
For the four athletes from tropical countries in the movie "Light Ride on Ice", although they have never seen ice and snow, they decided to stage ice race in front of the world.
Even the Winter Olympic Committee, fearing that they would make the Winter Olympics a joke, was able to say optimistically, "Because we're different, they're scared." ”
Their spirit has inspired the descendants of countless tropical countries over the years.
Thirty years later, the Jamaican women's snow team made its Olympic debut in Pyeongchang, finishing 18th in the women's double seat of the snowmobile. The Nigerian Snow Team also played for the first time in that Winter Olympics. More countries near the equator were encouraged by Jamaican snow teams to rush to the Winter Olympics.
Years later, a younger generation of Jamaican athlete Shanwayne Stephens said, "I loved that movie as a kid and it taught me never to give up on my dreams. "He played at this year's Beijing Winter Olympics.
That's why sport is great.
Solano said: "I achieved a dream that inspired me to want to try more every day. Despite falling badly in his first ski race, he vowed to represent Venezuela at the 2022 Winter Olympics after the race.
“From here to the Olympics!” He once declared.
It is said that after Solano fell to fame that year, a former skier proposed to change the criteria for the event to prevent skiers like Solano from mixing in.
Valavori, who helped Solano get on the field, said: "We have a culture of success, that is, 'Only if you succeed, sports are great.'" To get rid of that idea, there's a win and a loss, but there's a lot of other stuff in the sport, like stories like Solano's. ”
Everyone can try skiing, everyone can have a stage dream, sports can be full of Zen, "Actually the part I enjoy the most is falling. Solano said of his experience.
"Because now I'm more motivated to stand up and keep achieving my goals."