November 2, 2023 – Jamaican Bobsled Team

Happy throwback Thursday! Today we’re featuring the year 1988, the year that the Jamaican national bobsleigh team debuted at the Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta Canada.
George Fitch, who was the Commercial Attache for the American embassy in Jamaica, was the first to suggest that Jamaica should start competing in the Winter Olympics, specifically the bobsleigh because it played well to the strengths of Jamaicans in sprinting. The President of the Jamaica Olympic Association was supportive of the idea. They had some trouble with recruitment, so they looked to the Jamaican military, and it was there that they found their bobsledders.
The first team consisted of Dudley Stokes, Devon Harris, Michael White, and Caswell Allen. They were coached by an American former Olympic bobsledder, Howard Siler. Siler agreed to coach the team because he saw that they were serious and committed athletes. They practiced their push-starts with a pushcart on a Jamaican military base. And with funding from Fitch and the Jamaica Tourism Board, they were able to train in Austria and Canada to prepare for the Olympic games.
When the team arrived in Calgary, the team conducted test rus on a frozen lake to get used to the conditions. However, Caswell Allen fell and was injured, so he was replaced by Chris Stokes, who was only there to support his brother Dudley. He was added to the team just 3 days before the first run having never been in a bobsleigh before. The Jamaican team first competed in the 2-man bobsleigh, where they finished 30th out of 41.
By the time of the 4-man bobsled event, the United States ice hockey team had been eliminated from the competition. The American media needed to fill airtime, so they decided to focus on the underdog Jamaican bobsled team. The team became best known for the events of their 3rd run. After setting the 7th fastest start, the bobsleigh went out of control at the turn and careened into the wall of the track, flipping over on top of the 4 athletes. The team climbed out and were greeted with a roar of cheers from the crowd. The team couldn’t compete in the 4th run, so they came in last place overall.
But the story of the improbable Jamaican bobsleigh team was turned into the 1993 movie Cool Runnings, though the film was only very loosely based on actual events. Jamaica has returned to compete in the bobsleigh at the Winter Olympics, most recently in 2022. A women’s team debuted in 2018. Learn more here.