Despite Jamaica not qualifying for the last two Winter Olympics in Bobsled, Jamaican Winston Watts, who competed in the 1994, 1998 and 2002 Olympics, is on a mission to get the Jamaican bobsled buzz back on track.
With a little persuasion from former teammate Lascelle ‘King’ Brown, who now competes for Team Canada, Watts is dragging himself out of retirement at the ripe old age of 46 to help put Jamaica on the road to Sochi.
In case you’re wondering, no they’re not practicing on a makeshift wooden bobsled on wheels in the sweltering heat of Jamaica like Cool Runnings might have you envisaging. Most of the team have upped sticks to the US after a sentimental lawyer in Evanston got so swept away by the film that he provided them a home away from home to practice in a more ‘traditional’ bobsled setting.
Whether they’ll make it past the qualifying stage is yet to be seen, but we’re all rooting for them. “Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, get on up, it’s bobsled time!”