Amman, Jordan, January 28, 2025: Alpine skier Sharif Al-Zawaideh, born and raised in the United States, will represent Jordan for the first time at the 9th Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China from February 7-14.
Sharif is looking forward to representing Jordan, gaining experience, and moving forward in his efforts to develop winter sports in Jordan.
In an interview published on the Jordan Olympic Committee website, he said Harbin AWG was a key milestone for him.
“The Asian Winter Games are very important to me. This will be my first opportunity to represent Jordan on the international stage, and it is an honour,” Sharif said.
“For me, the goal is not to win, but to participate with pride, represent Jordan, and hopefully cross the finish line. I want to inspire Jordanians, Arabs and anyone from under-represented countries to see that, with hard work and dedication, they too can compete at this level,” he noted.
For the past 15 months, Sharif has been chasing winters around the world to maintain his training regime. His main training base is in Wyoming, but he has spent significant time in California, northern Italy, Chile and Sweden.
“On average, I’m on the snow six days a week. Last year, I spent 280 days on the snow. In addition to skiing, I follow a rigorous strength training programme. I also practice yoga three days a week.
“My ultimate goal is to compete in the Winter Olympics in 2026. It will be a challenging and intense road ahead to reach the qualifying standards, but I am fully committed to this goal. Beyond that I have a bigger vision of helping winter sports grow in the Middle East.” Sharif added.