Jamaican bobsled team headed to Sochi Winter Olympics

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

The Jamaican bobsled team on Saturday qualified for the two-man competition at next month’s Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

The Jamaica Olympic Association, Monday, announced that it would be covering all costs associated with getting the bobsled team from its training based in Evanston, Wyoming to the the Russian city of Sochi, while all local expenses will be covered by the Sochi 2014 Local Organizing Committee.

Jamaica first competed in Olympic bobsledding in 1988 at the Calgary Games, a story that inspired the “Cool Runnings” film. For a nation lacking bobsled tradition, or snowy winters, Jamaica has often fared quite well on the international circuits.

It’s been 12 years since Jamaica has had a sled in the Olympics, with Watts finishing 28th at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002, with Lascelles Brown – now a key part of Canada’s national team. Brown won a medal at the 2010 Vancouver Games, one where the Jamaicans were hoping to compete but were again thwarted by funding issues.

Still, the 46-year-old captain, Winston Watts – who called himself “retired” from sliding for nearly a decade – has held on to hope of sliding again on the sport’s biggest stage.

“We’re pretty good,” Watts said. “We’re not there with the rest of the world, of course. But we if had some more sources for funding, we’d have a better chance.”

He started the season thinking he could get a 4-man sled ready for Sochi, before quickly realizing that was too expensive. His focus then shifted to the 2-man sled and by racing in a number of lower-tier events at tracks in Park City, Lake Placid and Calgary in recent months, Watts and brakeman Marvin Dixon piled up enough points to get into the Olympic mix.

Source: Associated Press