6 days ago
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JAMAICA’S BOBSLEIGH team turned heads at the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) North American Championships earlier this week in Whistler, Canada, with a gold medal performance in the four-man event.
However, it is not just the improbability of their achievement that marvelled the bobsled and sporting world.
It is also the fact that Jamaica have stepped away from the traditional method of using athletes with imposing physical stature and size, and have instead recruited power sprinters, to good effect.
President of the Jamaica Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (JBSF), Nelson Stokes, said recruiting sprinters is an approach they’ve employed for nearly a decade.
However, they’ve had to be committed and patient and are now reaping the rewards.
Driver Shane Pitter and brakemen Tyquendo Tracey, Andre Dacres, and Junior Harris, who powered Jamaica to victory in 1:45.88 in Whistler, all have backgrounds in sprinting.
Dacres is the intercollegiate champion at 100m champion for UTech. Tracey is a two-time national champion. Harris, is former sprinter and hurdler, and Pitter also a sprinter.
Stokes explained that they have thought about it very carefully, because bobsleigh is a gruelling sport. However, when they recruit, they go for a specific type of sprinter, he noted.
“If you are a slight sprinter, you are quick but not strong. You are going to have a problem. We would not recruit Oblique Seville, but we would recruit Kishane Thompson, because Oblique floats while Thompson powers,” he pointed out.
‘Fast but not strong’
In their preparation for the North American championships, the team was invited by the Korean Olympic Association and the Korean Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, who paid for the team’s flight and accommodations in Korea, for a 10-day training camp.
However, the Koreans contended that, although the Jamaicans are fast, they are not strong. But Stokes said they proved that narrative false.
“While we were there, they were saying that, ‘you guys are fast but not strong’. They said that we are small and weak.
“Most of their athletes are average 220 pounds. We have only one guy on our team now, Nimroy Turgatt, that comes close to that.
“But we beat them in the race in Whistle, even though we were not as big and strong as they are,” he said.
“We have a lot of speed strength capacity in our population generally. We are not the biggest, tallest or thickest. But we might be the fastest. So the key is to find the fastest that is big enough and strong enough to move the heavy sled and get the start times. And it showed in the races because we had the fastest start times in all the races.”
In an effort to improve, the federation will continue to recruit sprinters, with Ashanti Moore to join the female programme in January.
Nevertheless, Stokes says the challenge lay in convincing young sprinters that their future is in obbsleighing.
“Every young sprinter in Jamaica thinks they are going to be the next Usain Bolt. So, to say to those guys who you think can be a world-class bobsleigher, that your future, your fame, your fortune, medals and podiums is in bobsleigh becomes a tough sell to young people, because you have to respect the dreams of young people.
“But it makes my job easier when the team does well. Because the guys that decide to give it a try are rewarded and motivated, and then others call and want to be a part of it,” he continued.
Transitioning from one sport to the next is also a difficult process, Stokes said.
“Tyquendo would tell you bobsleighing is hard. It is cold. The sled is heavy. It makes your back and your shoulders hurt. It’s a hard sport and a difficult transition for track and field athletes.
“One of the athletes who will transition with us is Ashanti Moore and she is perfect. She has the size and speed. But she has challenges with just the difficulty of the sport. So it’s a mental challenge as well.”
Stokes is pleased their belief in Jamaican talent and commitment to the project is bearing fruit.
English (US) ·