The Jamaican Bobsledding Team

Bobsledding is a race where a team of two, three or four people slide down a winding path that is covered with ice on a metal sled (a bobsled). Bobsledding originated in Switzerland in the 1890s and entered the first Winter Olympic Games in 1924. Since then, most competing bobsled teams in the Olympics have been from northern countries where there is a lot of snow. However, in 1988, a bobsled team from Jamaica entered the Olympic Games in Calgary, Canada.

Jamaica is a Caribbean nation, famous for its reggae music, dreadlocks and lovely, hot weather. Many people were surprised to see a team from such a hot country in a competition with sportspeople from cold, northern-hemisphere countries. A sprinter is someone who is very strong at running and can run very fast. You have to have someone who is a good sprinter to run behind the bobsled and push it to a high speed before jumping in. There are many good sprinters in Jamaica. Some smart coaches recruited several of these sprinters from Jamaica’s military forces, and formed a bobsledding team. The Jamaican team had many disadvantages such as a lack of experience with snow (since it never snows in Jamaica), poor equipment and not enough money for new equipment or training. Despite these problems, the Jamaican team competed in the Calgary Olympics.

The Jamaican team performed very well, and almost won a gold medal. But, sadly, in the final race, their sled lost a screw and it crashed violently. The team didn’t win a medal but everyone appreciated the team’s efforts, and everyone loved them. In that first competition, they did not win any Olympic medals, but the team improved dramatically for their second Olympic games. They practised hard for four years, and in 1992 they were confident and focused. In the four-man race, they came in 4th place, ahead of the US team, the French team, the Russian team, and the Italian team. In the two-man race, they shocked the world by beating the Swedish national champions and coming in 10th place. Since that time, the Jamaican bobsledding team has won the respect of the world. Nobody will be surprised when this team wins an Olympic medal one day.