The Jamaican four-man bobsled team debuted at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta. There they quickly became a fan favorite largely because of their status position as the ultimate 'underdog' story of the games. Not only was there the novelty of having a tropical country compete in a cold-weather sport, but they had very little practice going down a bobsled track before, and they borrowed spare sleds from other states to compete. In a show of worldly brotherhood, other bobsledders were quick to give them guidance and support. They did not officially finish after losing control of the sled and crashing during one of their four runs. However, they showed significant improvement throughout the games and impressed observers with some fast starts. After crashing, they famously got out of their sled and walked with it to the finish line to great applause. [2] This team was the inspiration for a major motion picture,Cool Runnings featuring John Candy as the team's coach. The characters in the film are fictional, although the original footage of the crash is used during the film. The film's depiction of the post-crash rescue was changed to show the bobsledders carrying the sled over the line on their shoulders for dramatic effect.
The team returned to the Olympics in the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, but finished poorly.[3][4] They qualified again for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. There, the Jamaican four sled stunned many of their critics by finishing in 14th place, ahead of the United States, Russia, France and one sled from Italy.[5]
In 2000 the Jamaicans won the gold medal at the World Push Bobsled Championships.
The Jamaican Bobsled Team failed to qualify for both the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.
Even though they did not make the 2010 winter Olympics I'm really happy they have not given up... and I will be so happy when they do qualify again.
