Jamaica bobsleigh: When are Cool Runnings-linked Jamaican team competing at Beijing 2022 Olympics?

Published 06/02/2022 at 15:33 GMT

It will be the first time in 24 years that a four-man crew will represent Jamaica at a Winter Olympics, and all eyes will be on Matthew Wekpe, Nimroy Turgott, Ashley Watson and Shanwayne Stephens when they hit the ice in Beijing. The current team will be looking to do much more than simply remind fans of the famous exploits of the 1988 Jamaica team who inspired the legendary movie Cool Runnings.

Olympic Momentum: Jamaica's 'Cool Runnings' moment

One of the standout moments of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games will be the performances of the Jamaica bobsleigh team.

It will be the first time in 24 years that a four-man crew will represent the nation at a Winter Olympics and all eyes will be on the quartet when they hit the ice in Beijing.

The current team will be looking to do much more than simply remind fans of the famous exploits of the 1988 Jamaica team who inspired the legendary sports movie Cool Runnings, which hit cinemas in 1993.

Beijing 2022

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20/02/2022 at 10:03

Who is in the Jamaica team?

The quartet is made up of: Matthew Wekpe, Nimroy Turgott, Ashley Watson and Shanwayne Stephens.

When are they competing in Beijing?

The four-man bobsleigh event does not begin until Saturday 19 February as one of the last events at the Games.

The first two runs take place on February 19 before a day later the third and fourth runs bring the event to its conclusion with the medals.

How did the famous 1988 team get on?

Haven't you seen the movie? Well, Cool Runnings was only loosely based on the real thing from the Calgary Winter Olympic Games.

Devon Harris, Dudley Stokes, Michael White and Nelson Stokes were the four men who made history as Jamaica made its debut in the event.

It is true that they crashed out of the event and carried their sled over the finish line, as the movie so memorably captured in the iconic finale.

Eurosport analysis: bobsleigh 'absolutely brutal' - Rutherford

Greg Rutherford says it was an "incredible experience" representing Great Britain as a bobsleigher after missing out on the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, but explained why it is "absolutely brutal".

The 35-year-old came back from a shoulder injury last month to make his official bobsleigh debut in driver Lamin Deen's sled in January, but the team failed to achieve the qualifying standard of three top-12 World Cup finishes this season, which meant Rutherford would not be competing in Beijing.

"It was an incredible experience," he told Eurosport in the Cube. "First and foremost you sort of understand what it is like to be in a team environment. I spend my entire career as an individual and I'm at a stage in my life it was probably the best thing for me to be around other people.

'A fantastic honour' - Rutherford on competing for Great Britain again

"I had to learn a skill that is far more difficult than it looks. When you watch it on TV it looks so serene and really calm. When you are in a bobsleigh, and I was at four so I'm the guy that is having to pull the brakes. You are thrown around like you are in a washing machine. It is absolutely brutal.

"It was an incredible experience and what I wanted to show is I'm getting a bit older. In sports terms at 35 you're considered relatively old and from that point of view I wanted to show that you can turn your hand to other things. You can try new things, push your body in ways where hopefully you can get something out of you.

"For me I felt as if I was just about young enough to try a new sport. I managed to compete for Great Britain again which was a fantastic honour to have. We just missed out on going to the Games.

"The team that we had myself, Lamin [Deen], Luke [Dawes] and Sam [Blanchet] towards the end. If we had that team with no injuries and no issues from the get-go I think we could have had an absolutely incredible season on the World Cup circuit. We would have been out there with Brad Hall's team and would have had two men's British sleds pushing for Great Britain. It's a real shame it hasn't happened but it was a really incredible experience."