Jamaica aims to repeat the exploits of Cool Runnings in Sochi

It was 1988 when for the first time in history a crew of bob represented at the Olympic Games a Caribbean country: Jamaica. A historical event that made headlines and even convinced Disney to retrace the heroic deeds of those four sprinters clumsy lent to the world of bob, creating a blockbuster movie, "Cool Runnings".

Friday 20 September 2013 4 minutes reading time

Today, after twenty-five years since that debut, is again a character in the film world to be interested in bob and Jamaica'' but this time the goal is another. David Vehreschild, quarantunenne German director, at the beginning of year you happen to know Antonio Piredda who claims to be coach of the Jamaican bobsled team. Vehreschild initially think this is a joke, but soon realizes that is really in front of the technical bobbisti Jamaicans began to dream. The German, began work hard to allow Jamaicans to be able to participate in the next Olympic Games in Sochi. While Piredda takes care of the training of the six bobbisti, Vehreschild, thanks to a donation of an'' important'' German company manages to find a new bob allowing Jamaicans to abandon the old sled that had been taken from the museum in Kingston. The'' objective'' declared by Jamaican entourage is clear: it points to the qualification of both the two-man bobsleigh that of the four the next Olympics in Sochi. The new bob and partnering with a transport company have increased the odds that Jamaica is able to take part in the Winter scenes Olimpidi of its history, however, the certainty of the investment is not as obvious. The Caribbean team in fact, will have to conquer different points in eight games Olympic qualifiers which begin in mid-November. In addition, the team is constantly looking for funds to cover the costs arising from the various trips. In fact, the qualifying races will be held partly in North America and partly in Europe. With regard to the salary of the athletes, according to Vehreschild there are no major problems, as the Caribbean bobbisti mainly want to live the Olympic dream without major economic pretensions, just think that a brakeman team, Wayne Blackwood, is a farmer from a small village far from the capital. The athletic training of the Jamaica Bobsled Team will be fully followed by the cameras of Sky Germany and from there to the Sochi Olympics will continue to make television services focused on the new Cool Runnings. For our part, we just have to wish a big good luck to the team and hope that in Sochi we can still hear singing the famous motto of the Disney film, "No one can believe it yet! Jamaica will have its bobsled team!"

Alessandro Genuzio

Social media engagement