(CMR) Jamaica's bobsled team has secured spots in three events at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. The team will participate in the four-man, two-man, and women's monobob.
This is the first time in 24 years that Jamaica's four-man bobsled team will participate in the Winter Olympics Games. Jamaica grabbed the final spot in the 28-sled field in qualification for the Beijing Games, based on international results this season.
According to the Jamaica Observer, Shanwayne Stephens is expected to pilot the four-man sled. This season, Rolando Reid, Ashley Watson, and Matthew Wekpe have been push athletes in all of Stephens' four-man races, with a top finish of fifth on the lower-level North American Cup.
Jamaica bobsled rose to fame with its Olympic debut at the 1988 Calgary Winter Games. However, its four-man team failed to finish, inspiring the 1993 Disney film, “Cool Runnings.” At least one Jamaican men's sled competed in every Olympics from 1988 through 2002, then again in 2014, with the best finish of 14th.
The last time Jamaica had a four-man sled was at the 1998 Nagano Games. That was also the last time the Olympic team had a link to the famed 1998 quartet — brothers Chris and Dudley Stokes.
Jamaica will also have a skier at the Winter Olympics for the second time in history and for the first time in Alpine skiing. Benjamin Alexander, a former DJ raised in Great Britain, qualified for a quota spot for the nation in giant slalom.
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