Prepare for the hottest thing on ice': Relief for the Jamaican bobsled team after they are reunited with their lost baggage
By Daily Mail UK, 6 February 2014
Everything's cool and running with Jamaica's bobsled team.
They're back inside the Olympic rings, and back on the track.
After their equipment was delayed in arriving to the Sochi Games, driver Winston Watts and his teammates got in their first two runs down the Sanki Sliding Center track on Thursday.
Relax: Officials with the Jamaican bobsled team were reunited with their luggage after it failed to show at Sochi airport in Russia after the team transferred through New York City
The Jamaicans, who qualified for the first time since 2002, couldn't train on Wednesday because they arrived ahead of their luggage, which was on a later flight to Russia.
Without their clothing, sliding suits, helmets or the expensive runners for their two-man sled, the Jamaicans couldn't do anything but watch on their first day at the Olympic venue.
Watts said the team got its gear around midnight, enabling them to take part in the second day of 'unofficial' training. It wasn't until the Jamaicans got to the track that they realized their belongings had been tampered with.
Watts said security opened containers of protein powder and the contents spilled out on his clothes and equipment.
Practice: Jamaica's two-man bobsleigh pilot Winston Watts speeds down the track during an unofficial progressive training at the Sanki sliding center at the Sanki sliding center in Rosa Khutor, a venue for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics near Sochi
Ready for action: From left, Jamaican bobsled team members Wayne Blackwood, Marvin Dixon and coach Wayne Thomas pose at the MorningStar Veggie Burger Bar in Park City, Utah, on Monday, January 20, 2014,
The team, bound for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, arrived at the Sundance Film Festival to raise funds for travel and equipment for their Olympic quest
He even got powder in his eyes after putting on his helmet.
'Security went through them. I don't know who, but the lids were open,' he said. 'I didn't look at my bags last night and all of the stuff was all over my stuff. Protein. They take the seal off and open. They may think there was something else in there.'
Not even the transit delay could dampen Watts' enthusiasm in making it to his second Olympics - he shrugged it off in Jamaican style.
'We are from the sunshine,' he said, flashing his megawatt smile.
The Jamaicans, known as the 'hottest thing on ice' didn't race on the World Cup circuit this season, but they qualified for these games by accumulating enough points in lower-tier races in North America.
JAM-1: Jamaican bobsled piloted by Winston Watts, starts their training run for the two-man bobsled at the 2014 Winter Olympics, on Thursday, February 6, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia
Preparations: Winston Watts, the driver for JAM-1 from Jamaica, center, speaks to coaches and support staff as his brakeman Wayne Blackwood watches from the back of the equipment truck after a training run for the two-man bobsled at the 2014 Winter Olympics
Qualifying was one thing, but the Jamaicans weren't sure they were going to be able to make the trip because they didn't have enough to cover the travel expenses as well as purchase additional sets of runners.
Jamaica needed help, and got it as the team quickly raised $178,000 before telling fans and friends to stop donating.
'We didn't want them to think that we're greedy people,' he said. 'We said we wanted this to make it possible to get better equipment and that's what our goal was.
And apparently it went on and on because people want to achieve and they haven't seen us for a long period of time.'
Although they're a longshot to win a medal, the Jamaicans, whose inspiring journey to the Calgary Games in 1988 was told in the film, 'Cool Runnings,' have helped pull the spotlight toward bobsled.
American driver Steven Holcomb said having the Jamaicans around is great for the sport.
'They did work hard,' said Holcomb, who will defend his gold medal in four-man. 'It's not easy to qualify for the games.
They were trying in `06, they missed. They tried in `10, they missed. They tried again, they made it. So it's good to have that exposure.'
Watts said he and his teammates have always felt embraced by the world's other sliders.
Past glories: Winston Alexandr Watt and Lascelles Oneil Brown of Jamaica compete in the men's 2-man bobsled during the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games at the Utah Olympic Park in Park City, Utah in 2002
Iconic: Jamaican four-man bobsleigh pilot Dudley Stokes jumps in as his three teammates push off at the start of the second run of the Olympic four-man bobsleigh event 27 February 1988 at the Canada Olympic Park in Calgary
'All the guys in here, we are a family,' the 46-year-old veteran said. 'The bobsleigh circuit is like a family and we're welcomed. All people love Jamaica. When Jamaica is not around, they're not happy because we are a fun-loving, caring group. We make people smile all the time even when they are having a bad day. We just keep them going.'
Bobsled isn't Jamaica's best sport. Not by a long way.
The island nation is home to sprinter Usain Bolt, six-time Olympic champion and the world's fastest man.
Watts hopes to hear from Bolt while he's in Russia, and joked that he may one day ask him to jump in his sled.
Hilarious: John Candy stars in the Film - Cool Runnings. The story of the Jamaican Bobsled team in the 1988 Winter Olympics
'He would be a very good pusher, but he's not a person who likes cold,' Watts said. 'He's said that. It would be awesome to have him on my team because a strong guy like me and him, could you imagine that?'
The Jamican bobsled team was made famous by the 1993 Disney film, 'Cool Runnings' and Sochi will see them compete in their sixth winter Olympics overall.
The best bobsled finish for the country overall is a 14th-place effort in the four-man at the 1994 Lillehammer Games. In its most recent Olympic appearance, Jamaica placed 28th in the two-man at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.