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MANILA, Philippines – It’s easy to say that “life begins at 40” without actually having anything to back up the claim.
Luckily, in the span of two years, Filipino-Swiss entrepreneur Alan Frei became the epitome of said phrase, as his life took drastic, wild turns few people, if anyone else, could seriously match.
At the prime age of 40 years old, Frei was a businessman dabbling in sex toys, lingerie, and Uber Eats delivery on the side, while just looking for a way to up the ante in his physical fitness journey.
Through one Filipino-Swiss connection leading to another, he was led to the captivating winter sport of curling.
Fast forward to the present, now at 42 years young, Frei became an integral part of the four-man crew who stunned the world by winning a gold medal in the 2025 Asian Winter Games — the first of any medal color in Philippine history.
From sex toy and lingerie salesman to historic champion in continental winter sports. How’s that for a plot twist?
Fateful encounter
In the right place at the right time, Frei was contacted by Marc and Enrico Pfister, Christian Haller, and Benjo Delarmente, who encouraged him to try the sport simply as a way to fulfill his desire to be fit and try something new.
“Two years ago, I founded a company, sold [it], and at that time I made some money from the sale and a lot of time, but I had one problem. I was 25 kilos more than today and my doctor told me I’m very unhealthy and that I’m not on a great path. So I need to change that,” he told reporters at a celebratory press conference in Quezon City.
That led to Frei, a fluent Bisaya speaker who hails from Leyte through his mother, to eventually pick up the sport at an advanced age — at least for athletes’ standards — and almost immediately realized he’d be good at the curious, billiards-like sport on ice.
“My goal was, how can I make it, how can I become really, really fit, as fit as possible? And the highest goal in sports is going to the Olympics. So I decided I will go to the Olympics,” he said.
Frei made it sound too simple, too matter-of-factly, but motivations need not be complicated anyway. After all, he told no lies with the Winter Olympics being the highest level of competition possible in his newfound career.
Every aspiring athlete needs to start somewhere, and luckily for Frei, he found the perfect launching pad to slide his way to success, literally and figuratively.
“[Christian] told me, ‘Alan, there’s a situation that will never happen again like this. In Switzerland, there are two brothers [Marc and Enrico], also half-Filipino, and they’re very talented curlers,” he continued. “In curling, you need four people, so, they asked me to join their team.”
“I started training with them, and our goal was, and still is, to go to the Olympics in 2026 in Milano Cortina, in Italy.”
Now with the accolades to back up his dream, Frei’s new career path just became clearer, albeit now more treacherous, now that all eyes are on the Philippine team after their shocking coup at the continental level.
Curling tailor-made for Filipinos
Although there are huge hurdles ahead of Filipinos’ success in winter sports — the complete absence of winter being an obvious factor — Frei remains a staunch advocate of their promotion and propagation, especially that interest, though still relatively low, is now as high as it could be in the country.
“We understand that nobody knows curling until now, but we believe that curling is made for Filipinos, and the reason is it’s a precision sport. It’s a strategic sport and we Filipinos are good at bowling, billiard, dart,” he said.
“And it’s very similar in curling. It’s about precision. The problem is the ice, right? So there is no ice [rinks] yet, but we believe that with every success we generate, more and more Filipinos around the world and the Philippines will be interested in curling.”
Frei further explained that while there are a handful of ice skating rinks long existing in the Philippines, curling rinks use a different kind of ice and curling stones are only available in Scotland, which makes the sport’s growth in a tropical exceptionally difficult.
Still, Frei insists that with proper cooperation with the athletes, the media, and the Curling Pilipinas federation, what was once improbable like their Asian Winter Games gold medal will soon be reality.
“With more success, more awareness will come. So the next thing for us is then to set up a program together with our president of the curling federation, a program where Filipinos can go to South Korea or Japan to learn to curl, and learn curling there for the first time,” Frei continued.
“The whole story of Curling Pilipinas started with two people. Then the group grew to 12 people, then before the Asian Games, we were at 50 people, then I think now we’re at a hundred people. Curling is growing.”
What’s next?
Now that the big secret is out, Frei and the rest of the men’s curling team are bracing for a difficult road to the Olympics, with a loaded 2025 calendar starting July.
“We will have one tournament in Switzerland, where all the top teams in the world will come. We will probably play one in Norway, and the [Olympic] pre-qualifier will come in October. Next is also the Pan-continental Curling Championships,” Frei laid out.
“Everybody is riding on a high with the gold medal, but we need to be realistic about [Olympics]. Before the medal, I would have said it’s around 20 percent [chance] that we could make it. After the medal, it’s dropped down to 15 percent because everybody wants to beat us now.”
Still, Frei welcomes the challenge, just another curve in an already rocky road as a late-blooming athlete.
“It doesn’t matter. It could be one percent. We just want to make it happen. We are completely committed, one percent or 20 percent.”
If he can do it, so can you
While Frei still had the privileges of leaving full time work to pursue an athlete’s career and having the perfect hometown and connections to make history, the fact remains that he was not supposed to be here, and yet here he is, a vocal spokesperson for Philippine winter sports and a champion for life.
“When I started curling, I was a 40-year-old overweight guy who never curled, and now I’m sitting here with a gold medal. Don’t let anyone tell you what you can or can’t do, and I’m the best example for it.”
“Go to YouTube, check [curling] out. If you like it, reach out to us. Reach out to me, to Curling Pilipinas, and we’ll put you in contact with the right people. Whether you live in Manila, Cebu, we’ll put you on a list and we’ll take you to South Korea or Japan. Reach out for us, it’s the first step.”
So indeed, life began at 40 for Alan Frei. He believed that nothing is impossible, that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. He believed in template cliches and made them the core of his unique life chapter.
Success is all around us if we have the vision to commit to a path and take it. Like the sport of curling itself, it all starts with one gentle push. – Rappler.com
