NEARLY THREE decades after the first ever Jamaican bobsleigh team competed for gold at the Calgary Games in Canada, a new generation of hopefuls are dreaming of a happy ending at the Sochi Winter Olympics next month.
The original Jamaican bobsleigh team – Devon Harris, Dudley Stokes, Michael White and Nelson Stokes – were the ultimate underdogs – a team of sprinters, who tried their luck on the ice but failed by crashing off the course on one of their four runs.
Their hard-luck story at the 1988 Winter Games was inspiration for the 1993 film Cool Runnings, starring John Candy.
After failing to qualify in 2006 and 2010, the Jamaicans hope to try their luck once again in a bid to compete in Sochi, Russia in February.
The new hopefuls – Marvin Dixon, Hanukkah Wallace, both 31, Wayne Blackwood, 42, and Winston Watts, 46, hope to finish inside the qualifying zone by the January 20 deadline.
Driver Watts admits he was terrified the first time he climbed into a bobsleigh back in 1993, reported the Metro.
“It was horrible. I said to myself, ‘Why am I doing this?’ Then I said, ‘I must be the chosen one’.”
He added: “Jamaica has the best athletes in the world. We have the fastest man in the world in Usain Bolt, so the skill is there. This time could be it.”
The team is currently ranked 55th and only the top 30 teams qualify.- Voice
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