In honor of tonight’s Opening Ceremonies for the Sochi Olympics, let’s take a look at this year’s most inspirational underdog story.
The Jamaican bobsled team has a history of hardship when it comes to the Olympics. The inherent difficulty of the 1988 team’s competition in winter games when their home country’s climate is tropical is chronicled in the 1993 Disney movie Cool Runnings. [If you haven’t seen it, check out this ten minute summary].
This year, the team faced the odds when they couldn’t afford to compete in the Sochi winter games. After launching an aggressive crowd funding campaign, the team raised $130,000 in just a few weeks, allowing them to compete in the Olympic bobsled competition for the sixth time.
Just when the stars seemed to be aligning for the team, a Jamaican pilot reported that the sled, runners and shoes for the team had not yet arrived in Russia. Fearing that their fundraising efforts had been for nothing, the team tried to find a substitute plan and considered competing on borrowed equipment. Late Wednesday night, the team tweeted a picture of the equipment after it arrived at the airport and announced their excitement for practice and competition.
Jamaica Bobsled Team luggage and equipment arrives ! Practice at 7am Sochi Time #CoolRunnings pic.twitter.com/qrOiscLBPW
— Jamaica Bobsled (@JamaicaBobsled) February 5, 2014
Alas, the unlikely contenders have again set themselves up for a true underdog story. Perhaps Disney is already working on the sequel.
This Funny Friday, let’s take a look at the best moments from Cool Runnings, and be sure to keep an eye out for Jamaica’s bobsled team in this year’s Olympic games!
[poll id=”46″]
“Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, get on up its BOBSLED TIME!!!!”
Cover Photo Source: Perspectives – Jeff Smith / Shutterstock.com
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://wpmaster.sjadv.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Our-Space-Mary-Bio-Pic.png[/author_image] [author_info]Mary is an Assistant Account Executive at SJG. She earned her BA in Communication from the University of Evansville in 2013. In her spare time, when she’s not engulfing novels in a coffee shop, Mary feels most at home celebrating life and love with her family and friends, and visiting the streets of Paris in her dreams. [/author_info] [/author]