Jamaica Bobsled team: – We are not jokers

Two-man Jamaican bobsled team. PHOTO/Peter Andrews/Reuters

(Bloomberg) – Jamaica’s Olympic bobsled team have said that they are as serious as their Swiss, German and Canadian competitors as they prepare for the heats at the weekend.

“We are not a bunch of jokers,” driver Winston Watts told reporters in Sochi today. “Competing in bobsled means the world to me. The fact that we are here means a lot to Jamaica, even if in my country we have ice only in refrigerators.”

Heats start on February 16, with the final the following day.

The Caribbean island-nation’s preparation for the Winter Olympics was disrupted when their equipment was lost on the way to the Russian resort hosting the games. On recovering the items, they found some were covered in protein powder after a member of security staff opened their luggage and failed to reseal a container holding the substance.

Jamaica qualified for the two-man event last month after a 12-year absence. The team is led by 46-year-old Watts, a veteran driver who took part in Salt Lake City in 2002, and anchored by Marvin Dixon, 30.

Dixon is competing at his first Winter Games. Watts first took part at the 1994 games in Lillehammer, 6 years after Jamaica’s debut at the Calgary event inspired the 1993 movie “Cool Runnings,” which made US$68.8 million at the U.S. box office.