Cool Runnings II is back on. Fears the Jamaica women’s bobsleigh team would miss their first Winter Olympics, after the coach quit and threatened to take the sled with her, appear to have abated after a beer company offered to buy a new one.
The situation came to a head earlier in the week when Sandra Kiriasis – an Olympic, world and European champion – said she was forced out when her role was changed, and that she was legally responsible for the sled.
Kiriasis quit after refusing to change roles from driving coach to track performance analyst, which she said would have given her no access to the athletes.
The German said: “I have never known such disappointment in this sport in my life. The athletes have told me they don’t understand why this has happened as they have no problem with me and we have a good relationship.”
But on Friday the Jamaica Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation said it would accept an offer from Red Stripe – which was made on Twitter – to buy a sled, worth about £5,000.
“We have been gifted a bobsled,” the JBSF president, Chris Stokes, told Jamaica’s Gleaner newspaper. “We have accepted their generosity and we are preparing the sled.
“The team is in competition mode and we are focused on one goal – coming to the start line prepared mentally and physically. We have had some challenges in Pyeongchang but we stand united and thank our fans and colleagues for their unwavering support.”
Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian, who once competed in bobsleigh for the US, and Carrie Russell, a gold medallist in the 100m relay at the 2013 world championships, are hoping to become the Winter Olympics’ first Jamaican female competitors – 30 years after the Jamaican men, who inspired the film Cool Runnings, made history in Calgary.
They recorded their highest finish in a World Cup race in Winterberg in Germany in December, finishing seventh. Practice is on Saturday with the opening heats on Tuesday.
