Matt Smith: How South Africa Snowbok has booked the place of the winter Olympics in cross -country skiing
Shortly after his transfer to the Norwegian capital Oslo, Smith’s passion for outdoors aroused interest in skiing.
“I liked to run, ride a bicycle, swim out and then I moved to Norway as the snow was falling and the winter was coming,” he explained.
“I thought of myself, I have two options here: either I lean on this or in lethargy.”
Smith chose to embrace the conditions in Scandinavia and, as fate would have done, his new hobby led him to meet Allan Corona, a Mexican cross -country ski skier.
Since then the two men have formed a close link, becoming a training partner and also competing next to the other on the international circuit.
“I just decided to take the bull for the horns,” Smith said.
“If Allan can represent Mexico, why can’t I represent South Africa?”
Then came bigger questions and an ambitious goal.
“When are the next Olympics?” Smith continued. “Do we have someone who represents us? No.
“It is humanly possible to qualify in two years and represent your country in three? I showed it is.”
Smith ensured a place at Milan-Cortina at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim at the end of February.
A 38th goal in a 7.5 km race – about 10 seconds behind Corona – it earned him enough ranking points from the body of the world to get a dream that seemed unlikely when he started sport.
