KINGSTON, Jamaica, (Reuters) – “We are not just going there to participate.”
Defiant words of Winston Watts, the driver of Jamaica’s two-man bobsleigh team for next month’s Sochi Winter Olympics, as the tropical Caribbean nation continues its love affair with icy track for a sixth time in history.
Jamaica’s Sochi qualification comes 26 years after their ground-breaking quartet of Devon Harris, Dudley Stokes, Michael White, and Nelson Christian Stokes made a moving debut at the 1988 Calgary Games that inspired a movie, “Cool Runnings”, five years later.
“Most of those guys who were in the 1988 team were my teammates in 1994 and 1998 and they are still part of the federation,” Watts told Reuters from Jamaica’s training based in Wyoming, USA on Wednesday.
The 46-year-old, who competed at the 1994, 1998 and 2002 Games, said the movie left a deep impression on the mind of Jamaica’s young generation. His views were shared by Stokes, a four-time Winter Olympian, and now the general secretary of the Jamaica Bobsleigh Federation.
“I don’t think the support for the team, like we’ve seen over the last three days, would have been sustainable without the ongoing appeal of the movie,” Stokes told Reuters from the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Brakesman Marvin Dixon is the second member of the two-man bobsleigh team.
Since confirmation of their participation came on Monday, the Jamaicans are busy trying to raise an additional $80,000 to $100,000 to fund their final preparations for Sochi.
Stokes said financial woes may not have vanished altogether but had eased at least.
“We were able to raise over $120,000 via a crowd-funding site … which meets the immediate need. So we’re grateful for that, as it puts us in very good position to get the team prepared for the Sochi Games.”
