Matt Smith
๐ค SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
I'm not sure if it's just cross-country.
There may be a few other disciplines.
I'm not aware, but I understand.
Cross-country skiing, first of all, we have one of the largest, if not the largest, quota allocation of men and women, right?
I think we have 148 spots for men, 148 spots for women across all the races, right?
Meaning the top nations take eight, and then it goes down that list.
There is a pathway to qualify.
You can't turn up, punch your ticket and go.
You can't be the best athlete in your country.
No, there's a minimum IOC, Olympic quota number you have to hit of how good you are in specific races.
And then there's a ski federation, FISF.
So there's two things you need to need to hit.
And, you know, for taking myself as an example, right.
You know, I started three years ago from zero, having never skied really beforehand.
I spent three years of my life on it full time effectively.
I was also doing a bit of work to pay for the whole thing.
Self-funded, as you said, I was an athlete before.
So I did come with that cardiovascular system from triathlon.
So I didn't just walk off the sofa to do this.
But, you know, there's opportunity for other triathletes then to look at this and then the pathway there.