WHY BOBSLEIGH TEAM DIDN’T ‘FLOP’ IN SOCHI

The headline in the Jamaica Observer declared ”US skating pair break world record, Jamaican bobsledders flop’. This was in reference to the performance of the Jamaican bobsleigh team at the Winter Olympics in Sochi. To be fair the headline reflected the content in an AFP wire story taken down for publication.

The Jamaican team comprised of Winston Watt and Marvin Dixon had excited the world when they qualified for the Olympics, bringing back memories of the team from 1988 whose story from the Olympics in Calgary inspired the aptly named movie Cool Runnings. Whoever wrote the story and the many Jamaicans who saw the team’s 29th place finish as a flop, a failure, a disappointment or as the story put it ‘the gallant Jamaican team came down to earth with a bump’,  really don’t get it.

I don’t know about you but I never expected the Jamaican team to win a medal. Sure, I would have hoped they would have been more competitive but for a country where it doesn’t snow and from which there was no funding for the team prior to qualification, that they were among the 30 best two-man teams in the world, I am not going to lose sleep because they were unable to finish higher up the rankings.

To the contrary, I am very proud of the team. From the way they had the world rally round to raise almost US$200,000 that was used to get them to Sochi and provide them with well-needed new runners and refund Watts who funded the preparation of out his own pocket, to the way the world responded when they got the Sochi, was invaluable to this country.

Prior to the start of the Winter Games, the mere fact that the Jamaicans were on the verge of qualifying made headlines around the world.  ’60 Minutes’, the well-respected investigative news magazine show on American network CBS carried a feature on the team, so did networks in Canada, and in the United Kingdom. Just by their mere presence, the bobsleigh team gave Jamaica brand recognition this country could never pay for.

Once Watts, Dixon and their support staff got into Sochi, the coverage only intensified. The fact that their luggage got lost made international headlines, television networks used the Jamaican team to promote and market their coverage of the games. I was astounded by how NBC used images of the bobsleigh team to promote their coverage of the competition once it was about to start and every time when the bobsleigh competition was on, the Jamaicans were always mentioned.

When the team was about to take the track, the excitement in the crowd intensified. You could literally feel it through the television screen. It was that palpable. Yes, their times, when compared to the others, were not as impressive but they finished every run and their last run was their fastest one. They were perhaps sending a subtle signal that next time around they could be even better. It could leave the world wondering what  Jamaica will come with next.

The buzz will eventually subside but Sochi owes a debt of gratitude to the Jamaican bobsleigh team for bringing even greater audiences than they would have anticipated. Look, the team even made us want to watch the Olympics where there was no Bolt or Shelly. I had to laugh when people started cursing Sportsmaxx for buying the rights to show the games here in the Caribbean. Had the Jamaican team not been there would they have cared?

No guys, the Jamaicans didn’t flop in Sochi. They shone.