- Jazmine Fenlator and Carrie Russell will form Jamaica’s first ever women’s bobsleigh team at the Winter Olympics next month
- The Jamaican men’s team from the 1988 Games inspired hit film ‘Cool Runnings’
- Fenlator was a member of the United States team four years ago in Sochi
- Brakewoman Russell is a former world athletics relay gold medallist
Thirty years after the nation’s fabled debut in Calgary, Jamaica are sending their first women’s bobsleigh team to the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang next month.
Jazmine Fenlator, who was a member of the United States team four years ago in Sochi, will pilot the Jamaican sled having switched to the country of her father’s birth in 2015.
Fenlator will be joined by brakewoman Carrie Russell, a former world athletics relay gold medallist.
Jazmine Fenlator (front) and Carrie Russell will represent Jamaica at the Winter Olympics
Movie ‘Cool Runnings’ was inspired by the Jamaican men’s bobsleigh team from 1988 (left)
They will be targeting a top-10 finish after coming seventh in the Winterberg World Cup last month.
Jamaica’s exploits in 1988 inspired the hit movie ‘Cool Runnings’ and turned its bobsleigh squad into cult heroes.
The men’s team went on to participate in five of seven subsequent Games, but will not be represented in Pyeongchang.
Jamaica Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation president Chris Stokes told the Jamaica Gleaner: ‘Jamaica was offered a quota allocation spot for women’s bobsleigh, which we have gladly accepted.
Chris Stokes, Dudley Stokes, Devon Harris, Michael White became the first Jamaican team to compete in the bobsleigh at the Winter Olympics 30 years ago
Fenlator (right) was a member of the United States bobsleigh team four years ago in Sochi
”They had a difficult time in Germany (in the first race this year). We did not get a good result. But we made adjustments and came back and had a very strong performance in San Moritz, which set us up.
‘This is the 30th anniversary of the first team to qualify in 1988, and we are glad to have a women’s team qualify, and we expect them to do well.’
Stokes was a member of the men’s team which famously overturned on their fourth and final run down the Olympic track in Calgary.