Olympia 2022: Because of Corona – Jamaica’s bob pilots trained with a car

Status: 09:04 a.m | Reading time: 3 minutes

Eno matter how many times the jet-black sled hits the frozen ledges of the Yanqing Ice Channel on the way down, everyone cheers at the finish. After all, a few seconds behind the leaders is by no means a reason to be in a bad mood.

And so the supervisors of the Jamaican team euphorically wave their national flag every time Shanwayne Stephens and his partner Nimroy Turgott brake the bobsled in the finish area with all their might after their runs.

But Jamaican bobsledders don’t just compete at the Winter Olympics for fun. On their way to Beijing, Stephens and Turgott had to overcome a number of obstacles. Her passion for the sport even wowed Queen Elizabeth II of England.

Jamaica’s dream of a medal

The “ultimate goal” was of course qualifying for the Olympics, Stephens emphasized in an interview before the adventure in China, “but after that it has to be a medal at the games. That’s what everyone dreams of, that’s what we’re here for. So why not aim high?”

At the Olympics in Beijing, the Jamaican bobsleigh team will start in three different competitions for the first time: monobob, four-man bobsleigh and two-man bobsleigh. “Of course we’re compared to ‘Cool Runnings’, we can’t get away from that,” says Stephens. It’s part of Jamaican bobsleigh and culture.

His personal Olympic dream began seven years ago. Back then, Stephens sat in a bob for the first time and took part in the tests of the Jamaican national team in 2017. The 31-year-old was born in Jamaica but moved to the UK with his family in 2002.

Training with the Mini Cooper

When he’s not sledding or lifting weights, Stephens serves as a sniper for the Royal Air Force. On the way to realizing his dream of the Olympic ice track, even the corona virus could not stop him and his brakeman Turgott. The two made a virtue out of necessity.

When the pandemic hit Europe in spring 2020 and the two Jamaicans were unable to work on their strength in the gym or other training facilities, Stephens and Turgott did their endurance training on the streets of their hometown of Peterborough.

They also took turns pushing Stephen’s girlfriend’s Mini Cooper through an abandoned industrial area. “Of course it’s not quite as fast, but you train the same muscle groups,” Stephens told the BBC at the time. He was convinced of his training concept: “If you press something heavier than what you actually have to press, at the end of the day you should be able to press the real thing much faster.” So far, so good.

The improvised training even made a lasting impression on Queen Elizabeth II. During a video call with British forces, Stephens told the Queen about his Olympic mission. “Well, I suppose that’s a way of training, too,” the queen replied to the corporal, unable to resist a laugh.

Solid starts, but too many blunders

Hard work in lockdown seems to be paying off at least a little on the Olympic track in Yanqing. Stephens and Turgott’s starting times were not the worst of the field in the first two runs. However, Jamaican Bob hit the gangs hard several times.

Team Jamaica goes into the third race (8:15 p.m. CET) more than four seconds behind Friedrich. As the last person, the goal is now to be among the top 20 in order to be allowed to start in the final round.

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In the (very) likely case that a medal should not work out, Stephens, who also controls Jamaica’s four-man bobsleigh, had set himself a different goal before the games: improve on his country’s best results at the Olympic Winter Games.

In addition, it is necessary to undercut a 14th place in the four-man bobsleigh and a 27th place in the two-man bobsleigh.

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