Almost three decades after the hit movie ‘Cool Runnings,i the Jamaican four-man bobsled team has qualified for the Winter Olympics.
The four-man Jamaican bobsled team qualified for the Winter Olympics next month in Beijing and will compete along 27 other four-man teams. The last time a four-man Jamaican bobsled team qualified for the Olympics was in 1998 when the event was held in Nagano, Japan.
The members of the four-man team hasn’t been announced yet but according to NBC Olympics, driver Shanwayne Stephens has competed with push athletes Matthew Wekpe, Ashley Watson and Rolando Reid have competed in every event together this season.
Team Jamaica has also qualified for three different bobsled events for the first time, the four-man event, the two-man event and the new women’s monobob event. The two-woman bobsled team is also listed as an alternate if a qualifying team drops out.
The original Jamaican bobsled team qualified for the 1988 Olympics in Alberta, Calgary and due limitations, were forced to practice with a makeshift sled on a concrete track. Dudley ‘Tal’ Stokes, Devon Harris, Michael White and Chris Stokes, who is now the president of the Jamaican Bobsled Federation, made up the original team. The team was disqualified when they crashed, but drew a standing ovation from the crowd when they walked to the finish line.
Their underdog story was featured in the 1993 Disney movie Cool Runnings the four athletes were played by Leon Robinson, Malik Yoba, Doug E. Doug and Rawle Lewis.
The country qualified in at least one bobsled from 1998 to 2002 but went through a 12 year drought before qualifying for the two-man bobsled in 2014. The four-woman team qualified for the 2018 games in South Korea.
The highest Olympic finish for a Jamaican bobsled team was 14th.
Team Jamaica will also have a skier at the Winter Olympics for the second time in its history, and for the first time in Alpine skiing.