Jamaica will have a four-man bobsled team at the Olympics for the first time in 24 years, grabbing the final spot in the 28-sled field to qualify for the Beijing Games. Jamaica qualified in three Olympic bobsled events for the first time, also earning the last spot in two-man and a place in the new Olympic event of women’s monobob. It missed a two-woman spot on a tiebreaker but can get in as the first alternate if one qualified nation gives up a spot.
Beijing marks the first Winter Games since the death of the first Jamaican bobsled driver, Sam Clayton. Jamaican bobsled team rose to fame with its Olympic debut at the 1988 Calgary Winter Games, its four-man team that failed to finish inspiring the 1993 Disney film “Cool Runnings.”
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. Chris is now the president of Jamaica’s bobsled federation.
A Jamaican women’s sled debuted at the Olympics in 2018, driven by 2014 U.S. Olympian Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian, whose father is Jamaican. A Jamaican men’s sled missed qualifying for PyeongChang by one spot in world rankings.
Jamaica will also have a skier at the Winter Olympics for the second time in history, and for the first time in Alpine skiing.
