Well… what can I say,
I could not achieve my goal! I didn’t qualify for the 2018 Olympic Games. The ski cross race is tomorrow (21.02.2018) and instead of competing I’ll be commentating live on national TV.
During the last couple of years I put almost everything else in my life on hold and focused only on one thing – to become the first Bulgarian to represent my country in the Olympic ski cross. In the end however, I could not score a top 30 world cup result and did not earn the necessary points to become one of the 32 people to be selected for the Olympics in South Korea.
The main reasons were the following:
1. I had only one and a half seasons to get ready and learn a new discipline from scratch.
2. I had a limited amount of resources at my disposal, which I had to acquire on my own (except for the financial help I got from the federation for the World Cups this season).
3. I didn’t manage to join a team. 90% of the time I was training and racing alone, learned from/fought against teams with traditions, experience and serious backup.
*Thus, the CRAZY IDEA motto*
BUT… these are just excuses. I did not achieve the goal and that’s it… period.
And even though I feel disappointed to have not achieved the goal, I strongly believe that life gives us exactly what we need, even though sometimes that’s not what we want. So let’s take a look at the other side of things:
1. The #GoChongi initiative has taught me a whole lot – how to deal with hard moments; how to give it everything I’ve got and even more; what does it mean to do what I love and what’s the price I need to pay for it; how to keep going forward regardless of how hard it gets. Impossible is nothing and all it takes is desire and determination to just go do it!
2. After so many years in the world of professional skiing I finally found my place. Ski cross is awesome! Period!
3. I met so many wonderful people and at all times I strongly felt the support of everyone who was involved in what I was doing… Really! And I mean that not only financially! There was a lot of energy built up which made me feel capable and confident.
4. We succeeded in putting Bulgaria on the map of world class ski cross! Several times I managed to beat top athletes and with hard work I won the respect of the community.
And last but not least – now I know what I will be doing next year…
I will keep on racing!
I’m just starting to get the hold of this sport and when I find a team and a coach everything will fall in place! Oh, and I almost forgot… on the 22nd and 23rd of January I got 7th and 6th place at the North American cup in Nakiska, Canada. With these results I secured a world cup spot for next season! It was awesome to finally race some serious heats and to spike up the adrenaline level even more.
What’s next?
I have three more races left until the end of the season – two World Cups and the Russian national championship in Sunny Valley, Southern Ural Mountain. After that I will take a short break and focus on securing funding for next season. I’m pretty sure the Indiegogo era of #GoChongi is over for now but don’t worry! Interesting stuff awaits in the future… I’m positive!
Photo: Kaloyan Krastev
The Indiegogo perks should have arrived at your designated addresses a long time ago already. If anyone hasn’t received his present or is not happy with size or anything else don’t hesitate to contact me at nchongarov@gmail.com.
I Thank all of you once again! I couldn’t be here without you!
#VivalaVida