When it comes to elite sports, an early start is always an advantage.
For most of the champion athletes at the top of their game, starting early is an essential part of their success — with most taking their respective jumps as early as during their childhood years, and then dedicating most of their time to hone their craft.
But for Winter Asian Games gold medalist Alan Frei, his world in sports didn’t start spinning until he was 40 years old, overweight, and moving on from his corporate life.
Inspired by his ambition to make it to the Olympics, the Filipino-Swiss Frei found himself in a rag-tag team of curlers which recently won gold at the 9th Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China.
Now closer than ever to his once-pipe dream of competing at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, Frei reflected on being an active athlete so late in life and what makes it worth it.
On this edition of One Sports’ Off the Record, Frei gets crystal clear on why he takes on the ice.
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One Sports: For most athletes, they begin their journey so early in life. What made you decide to pursue this life, even at your age?
Alan Frei: So as you mentioned, I didn't start with two years old, I started with 40 years old. So in terms of sports, I'm a grandfather and I think, I was all my life, I was a businessman and you know with businesses, it's all about, you know, did you answer all the emails? So you go home, you answer 200 emails, [and say] that was a good day and you don't have the emotions, you know, you don't go home on a Thursday night and [say] yes, I did 200 emails but in sports it's different, right?
Sports is like, as a team you grow together and you are sad if you lose and you're happy when you win and these emotions are something that I missed for a very long time because, you know, life goes on and on and on and I really appreciate those ups and downs in sports which I probably wouldn't have appreciated when I would be young.
OS: Before being an athlete, you spent your time as a business man in Switzerland. Would you say that there was something you learned in business that helped you in sports?
Alan: So one thing [I learned in business] is never accept a no, you know, that's something that everybody puts their own views and values on top of you and they tell you this won't work or this won't work. We had so many obstacles where people just said this can't be done, this is not possible and no, we can't do it that fast and just telling everyone, you know what, this is a dream, nobody's standing in our way, we just go for it.
This helps, you know, this persistence of business helps a lot in sports and I apply that like every day too.
OS: What have been the biggest challenges in pursuing this Olympic dream?
Alan: Yeah, so, you know, in the very very beginning it was very hard for us to get any recognition, to get recognized by the World Curling Federation or by other associations.
So, you know, nobody cared about the sport, nobody cared about us, the only thing we wanted to do is we wanted to play and we had to get that done first. The second is that not all of the team members had a passport yet. I had a Filipino mom but they didn't have the passport yet so I had to organize and help them with the passport.
Then we had to get the accreditation of the World Curling Federation and so on and so forth and we didn't play one game and there were so many obstacles already. So, that's how it started and now today, you know, it just feels great to play and to have success and we can focus more now on the playing instead of the admin stuff.
OS: What would you tell someone of your age who also wants to pursue a dream like yours later in life? Whether in sports or otherwise?
Alan: Yeah, so, you know, there are dozens of examples. One of my favorite ones is Colonel Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
That guy started something [at age] 63 or even later and especially nowadays, you know, being like fit and being healthy will just give you opportunities to go beyond that number and, you know, life is ending at one point and probably you will look back and you don't want to have regrets. You don't want to think, oh, I should have done this or that and life is over at one point. So, go all in on life.
OS: While you’re aiming for the Olympics, of course, nothing is for certain. But what would you say would be a good measure of success for you once you finish your career in curling?
Alan: Yeah, so, for us or for me especially, you know, I can't predict the future. I can't, you know, force people that we can go to the Olympics. What I can do, I can put in the work. I can put in the daily work and, you know, now it's nice.
We're sitting here. We are having food. I do the interviews.
Everybody's talking about the gold medal, but the day will come on a Monday morning when it's cold outside and I need to go onto the ice rink. Nobody looks at me and I just need to put in the work and that's where I'm most proud of when I just keep on doing that. Just when nobody's watching, just go there, play.
When I think, oh my god, what am I doing here, just continue. So, that's when I'm proud of me when I do the things when nobody's watching.