The dramatic journey of Jamaica’s first Olympic bobsleigh

牙买加首届奥运会有舵雪橇的戏剧性旅程

The Outlook Podcast Archive

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2022-02-14

38 分钟
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The comedy film classic Cool Runnings, about a Jamaican bobsleigh team's surprising efforts to get to the Winter Olympics, was inspired by a real story. Dudley Stokes was an officer in the Jamaican army and hadn't really heard of the sport until his superiors gave a presentation to try and recruit volunteers to take part in the country's first Olympic bobsleigh team. Some of his colleagues were put off by the danger involved as they watched a film of a bobsleigh hurtling down an icy track, but Dudley wasn't. He got on to the team as a driver and became the captain. Dudley tells Anu Anand about the difficult journey to the 1988 Winter Olympics, with only a few months training, and how he coped with a dramatic crash at the Games as the world watched. Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com Presenter: Anu Anand Producer: Deiniol Buxton Photo: The Jamaican four man bobsleigh team in action at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympic Games. Credit: David Yarrow/Getty Images
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  • Welcome to Outlook.

  • I'm Anu Anand, bringing you the extraordinary story of a man who became an unlikely Olympic hero and a reluctant inspiration for a Hollywood blockbuster film.

  • Dudley Stokes had an idyllic childhood outdoors in the warm Jamaican air, exploring, fishing and swimming.

  • But later, as an adult, he chose to do this.

  • You get up to speeds of between 75 and 105 miles an hour.

  • You have these ice tracks and it's dominated by curves.

  • So the bobsled, when it's moving, can't actually be steered on the ice.

  • It's actually literally in a skid.

  • Dudley was the driver and captain of Jamaica's first bobsled team.

  • He and his team's effort to get to the Calgary Winter Games in 1988 inspired the Disney film Cool Runnings, directed.

  • Directed by John Turtletaub, which was a box office hit when it was released in 1993 and is still popular today.

  • It's the unlikely story of tropical islanders attempting to compete at the highest possible level in a winter sport set in snow and freezing temperatures.

  • We now come to the second chance for the four intrepid men from Jamaica.

  • What do they have to do, John?

  • In reality, Al, I don't think the.

  • Jamaicans have any chance of winning a battle.

  • Ready?

  • Ready.

  • Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme.

  • Get on up, it's bomb flat time.