Jamaica national bobsleigh team explained

The Jamaica national bobsleigh team represents Jamaica in international bobsleighing competitions. The men's team debut in the 1988 Winter Olympic Games four-man bobsleigh in Calgary, Alberta,[1] was received as underdogs in a cold weather sport represented by a nation with a tropical environment. Jamaica returned to the Winter Olympics in the two-man bobsleigh in 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2014, and 2022; a women's team debuted in 2018.[2]

Beginnings

The debut team, consisting of Devon Harris, Dudley Stokes, Michael White, Freddy Powell, and last minute replacement Chris Stokes, qualified at the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, Alberta. Their coach was Howard Siler, an Olympic bobsledder for the United States in 1972 and 1980.[3] Their "underdog" status as an unlikely competitor in a cold weather sport represented by a nation with a tropical environment quickly gained them popularity at the Games. They had little experience in the sport and had to appeal to other teams for basic equipment in order to compete; sporting camaraderie across national boundaries followed. In the third out of four runs, they lost control of the sleigh, crashed, and did not officially finish.[4] Dudley Stokes and Michael White entered the two-man bobsleigh event, finishing 30th out of 41 teams.[5]

Evolution

The team returned to the Olympics at the 1992 Winter Olympic Games in Albertville, France, and finished 25th.[6] [7] They qualified for the 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway. Critics were stunned when they finished in 14th place, ahead of the United States, Russia, Australia, and France.[8]

At the 2000 World Push in Monaco, the team won the gold medal.[9]

At the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, the 2-man team of Winston Watts (pilot) and Lascelles Brown (brakeman) set the Park City bobsled track record and the Olympic record for the push-start segment of the 2-man race at 4.78 seconds. Jamaica failed to qualify for the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, and the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada. The two-man bobsled team qualified for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.[2]

Jamaica National Women's Bobsleigh team

Jamaica competed in women's bobsleigh, with a crew of two coached by Norwegian Trond Knaplund, consisting of pilot Porscha Morgan and Wynsome Cole on brakes, winning World Push titles in 2000 and 2001. They achieved the fastest push times in all runs, resulting in a landslide victory. These women initiated the Jamaican women bobsleigh team/program and were seen as contenders in the sport. The programme suffered a setback because of lack of funding, and brakeman Wynsome Cole suffered injuries due to a crash, resulting in the team having to withdraw from a few of the competitions.

The team returned to competition at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, with KayMarie Jones and Salcia Slack competing in a North American Cup race in November 2014, ending an over 10 year absence of a Jamaican female crew in international competition.[10] One of the athletes on the revived team was NaTalia Stokes, daughter and niece of former Jamaican bobsledders Chris and Dudley Stokes.[11]

Modern day

Jamaica qualified for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, lacked funding, but within two days the cryptocurrency Dogecoin community raised on the team's behalf $30,000 of the approximately $40,000.[12] [13] An online campaign was set up, seeking to raise an additional $80,000 through the crowdfunding platform Tilt.[14] The campaign closed on 22 January 2014, and surpassed the target goal having collected $129,687.[15]

Following the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, Todd Hays, former Olympic medalist and former coach of the Dutch and United States bobsleigh teams, was appointed head coach and technical director of the Jamaican team. However, he had to leave his role after one season due to a lack of funds to pay his salary, although he continued to work with the team in an unofficial capacity.[16] Ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the Jamaican Bobsleigh Federation invested significantly in the team, buying a new sled for the women's crew of Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian and Carrie Russell, and filling a number of coaching positions, with former British, Dutch and Brazilian coach Jo Manning becoming High-Performance Director, former Olympic and World Champion Sandra Kiriasis joining as driving coach and Dudley Stokes being appointed as coach responsible for performance, mental preparation and general logistics.[17] In January 2018, the Jamaica women's team qualified for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.[18] However the men's team missed out on Olympic qualification by one position in the world rankings.[19] Days ahead of the start of bobsleigh training at the Games, Kiriasis parted ways with the Jamaica Bobsleigh Federation after she was told she would be demoted from her position as driver coach to the role of track and performance analyst.[20] [21] On 21 February, Fenlator-Victorian and Russell finished 19th in the two-woman Olympic bobsleigh event.

Current

The current team:

PositionTeammate
Pilot/BrakemanNimroy Turgott[22]
DriverShanwayne Stephens[23]
BrakemanWayne McPherson[24]
BrakewomanAudra Segree[25]
BrakemanAshley Watson[26]
BrakemanMatthew Wekpe[27]
Pilot/BrakemanRolando Reid[28]
BrakewomanShadae Green[29]
Pilot/BrakewomanCarrie Russell[30]
PilotJazmine Fenlator-Victorian[31]

2018 Winter Olympic team

PositionTeammate
DriverJordan Borella
BrakewomanCarrie Russell
Skeleton RiderAnthony Watson

Olympics record

Two-man

OlympicsAthletesRanking
1988Dudley Stokes
Michael White
30
1992Devon Harris
Ricky McIntosh
35
Dudley Stokes
Chris Stokes
36
1994Dudley Stokes
Wayne Thomas
DQ
1998Devon Harris
Michael Morgan
29
2002Winston Watts
Lascelles Brown
28
2014Winston Watts
Marvin Dixon
27
2022Shanwayne Stephens
Nimroy Turgott
30

Four-man

OlympicsAthletesRankingResult
1988Dudley Stokes
Devon Harris
Michael White
Chris Stokes
DNF[32] [33]
1992Dudley Stokes
Ricky McIntosh
Michael White
Chris Stokes
25[34]
1994Dudley Stokes
Winston Watts
Chris Stokes
Wayne Thomas
14[35]
1998Dudley Stokes
Winston Watts
Chris Stokes
Wayne Thomas
212:43.76[36]
2022Shanwayne Stephens
Rolando Reid
Ashley Watson
Matthew Wekpe[37]
283:03:42

In popular culture

The 1988 team inspired the reggae parody song "Jamaican Bobsled" by The Rock 'n' Roll Animals, played on the GTR radio station and later released on the CD Yatta, Yatta, Yatta.[38] The song was recorded after Jamaica had announced that they would be entering a bobsledding team into the Olympics, but before the Olympics had actually started; nevertheless, the lyrics accurately predict that the team would crash during one of their runs.

In 1993, Disney released Cool Runnings, a film loosely based on and inspired by the team's experience in the four-man Bobsleigh at the 1988 Winter Olympics event.

The 1988 four-man team were referenced in the 1999 Futurama episode "Xmas Story."

The 2014 team was the inspiration for "The Bobsled Song" written by Sidney Mills from Steel Pulse, Jon Notar, and Groove Guild. The music video features 8-bit graphics. The song is timed to sync up to the team's Sochi bobsled run. The song was widely shown on television Olympics coverage in the lead-up to the team's run.[39]

A video game based on no particular year's team was released for the Wii on October 12th, 2010. Titled "Sled Shred featuring the Jamaican Bobsled Team" and published by SouthPeak Games, it features characters steered by tilting the Wii Remote sliding down icy paths in varied scenery atop various sleds.[40]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Rewind To 1988: The real Cool Runnings . ESPN . 5 February 2014 . 15 December 2014.
  2. Web site: Jamaican bobsleigh team are back in the running for Winter Olympics glory. 1 January 2014 . 15 December 2014.
  3. Web site: Howard Siler, first Jamaica Bobsled coach, passes away. Zaccardi. Nick. NBC Sports. July 14, 2014. July 17, 2015.
  4. Web site: Jamaican Bobsleigh Team Debut at Calgary 1988 Winter Olympics . https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211214/nm4DjRcmoPY . 2021-12-14 . live. YouTube . 15 November 2012 . 4 February 2014.
  5. Web site: 1988 Winter Olympics / Bobsleigh / Two, Men Results. olympedia.org . 20 January 2022.
  6. Web site: Todor Krastev . Bobsleigh Fours XVI Winter Olympic Games 1994 Albertville (FRA) – 15,16.02 . Todor66.com . 5 February 2012 . 2014-02-04.
  7. Web site: Todor Krastev . Bobsleigh Doubles XVI Winter Olympic Games 1992 Albertville (FRA) – 15,16.02 . Todor66.com . 5 February 2012 . 2014-02-04.
  8. Web site: Todor Krastev . Bobsleigh Fours Olympic Games 1994 Lilehammer (NOR) - 26,27.02 Hunderfossen . www.todor66.com . 27 September 2019 . 3 July 2012.
  9. News: Gary D'Amato . Jamaican bobsled team makes push for respect . . 18 February 2014 . 2022-02-19.
  10. Web site: Jamaica (re)starts women's bobsled team . Zaccardi . Nick . 14 November 2014 . . 2015-01-22.
  11. Web site: Cool Runnings 2: Downhill Daughter - The real-life sequel . Rigby . Caroline . 25 December 2014 . . 2015-01-22.
  12. Web site: Alex Hern . It's bobsleigh time: Jamaican team raises $25,000 in Dogecoin | Technology . . 20 January 2014 . 4 February 2014.
  13. Web site: Dogecoin Jamaican Bobsled Team Olympics . Business Insider . 20 January 2014 . 4 February 2014.
  14. News: Olympics: Fans help fund Jamaica bobsleigh Olympic bid. 21 January 2014. BBC News. 21 January 2014.
  15. Web site: Help the Jamaican Bobsled team get to Sochi! . . 4 February 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140826114241/https://www.tilt.com/campaigns/help-the-jamaican-bobsled-team-get-to-sochi . 26 August 2014 . dead .
  16. Web site: Uphill push to Olympics . Olivero . Antonio . 28 January 2017 . Adirondack Daily Enterprise . 21 January 2018.
  17. Web site: Bobsleigh Team Has Top Level Support . Scott . Livingston . 13 December 2017 . . 21 January 2018.
  18. Web site: Thirty Years After Cool Runnings, Jamaican Women Qualify For Olympic Bobsled . Keyser . Hannah . 16 January 2018 . . 21 January 2018.
  19. Web site: Jamaica misses Olympic men's bobsled by one spot . Zaccardi . Nick . 22 January 2018 . NBCSports.com. 23 January 2018.
  20. Web site: Winter Olympics: Jamaica's women's bobsleigh coach Sandra Kiriasis quits . Thompson . Anna . 14 February 2018 . . 25 February 2018.
  21. Web site: Bobsleigh: No reason given for my Jamaica team demotion, says Kiriasis . Grohmann . Karolos. 15 February 2018. Stutchbury . Greg . . 25 February 2018.
  22. Web site: IBSF Nimroy Turgott. 2021-12-12. www.ibsf.org. en-gb.
  23. Web site: IBSF Shanwayne Stephens. 2021-12-12. www.ibsf.org. en-gb.
  24. Web site: IBSF Wayne McPherson. 2021-12-12. www.ibsf.org. en-gb.
  25. Web site: IBSF Audra Segree. 2021-12-12. www.ibsf.org. en-gb.
  26. Web site: IBSF Ashley Watson. 2021-12-12. www.ibsf.org. en-gb.
  27. Web site: IBSF Matthew Wekpe. 2021-12-12. www.ibsf.org. en-gb.
  28. Web site: IBSF Rolando Reid. 2021-12-12. www.ibsf.org. en-gb.
  29. Web site: IBSF Shadae Green. 2021-12-12. www.ibsf.org. en-gb.
  30. Web site: IBSF Carrie Russell. 2021-12-12. www.ibsf.org. en-gb.
  31. Web site: IBSF Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian. 2021-12-12. www.ibsf.org. en-gb.
  32. Web site: Calgary 1988 four-man men - Olympic bobsleigh. November 26, 2019. International Olympic Committee.
  33. News: Bobsleigh at the 1988 Calgary Winter Games: Men's Four . Sports-reference.com . April 10, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20190622161524/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/winter/1988/BOB/mens-four.html. June 22, 2019. dead.
  34. Web site: Albertville 1992 four-man men - Olympic bobsleigh. November 26, 2019. International Olympic Committee.
  35. Web site: Lillehammer 1994 four-man men - Olympic bobsleigh. November 26, 2019. International Olympic Committee.
  36. Web site: Nagano 1998 four-man men - Olympic bobsleigh. November 26, 2019. International Olympic Committee.
  37. Web site: Winter Olympics 2022: Jamaican bobsled team embraces 'Cool Runnings,' but has sights set on more than movie references. 18 February 2022 . February 19, 2022. ESPN.
  38. Web site: Kevin. Kaduk. The Jamaican bobsled team has an amazing theme song and music video. 16 February 2014. 24 February 2014. Yahoo Sports.
  39. Web site: Dan. Wilkinson. The Jamaican Bobsled Team Just Released This Olympics Anthem. 21 February 2014. Vice. 24 February 2014.
  40. Web site: Sled Shred featuring the Jamaican Bobsled Team . metacritic.com . August 6, 2024.