--- title: Jamaica First-Ever Women's Bobsled Team Is an internet Hit description: Cool runnings indeed canonical: https://time.com/5168406/jamaica-bobsled-team-internet-reactions/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-21T18:28:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T08:59:43.336Z og:title: The Internet Won't Give Up on the Jamaican's Bobsled Team og:description: Cool runnings, indeed og:url: https://time.com/5168406/jamaica-bobsled-team-internet-reactions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb00f88f66a2b854b/69892869fb4eacb861895c72/gettyimages-922058582.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4541 og:image:height: 2554 og:image:alt: BOBSLEIGH-OLY-2018-PYEONGCHANG og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Internet Won't Give Up on the Jamaican's Bobsled Team twitter:description: Cool runnings, indeed twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb00f88f66a2b854b/69892869fb4eacb861895c72/gettyimages-922058582.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Internet Won't Give Up on the Jamaica's First Women's Bobsled Team > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: Meet The Nigerian Bobsled Team Making History at the 2018 Olympics [Watch (HLS stream): Meet The Nigerian Bobsled Team Making History at the 2018 Olympics](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/E2cYJx3U.m3u8) (3:59)  _Published 2018-01-16. The Nigerian Women's Bobsled team will be the first bobsled team, male or female, from the continent of Africa to compete at the Winter Olympics._ by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Feb 21, 2018 6:28 PM UTC The Nigerian Women's Bobsled team will be the first bobsled team, male or female, from the continent of Africa to compete at the Winter Olympics. by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Feb 21, 2018 6:28 PM UTC Jamaica didn’t make it to the podium on Wednesday at the 2018 Winter Olympics, but that hasn’t stopped the internet from cheering for the squad nonetheless. Jamaica is known for many things—sun, sand, blue water. Snow is not one of them. But Jamaica still sends bobsled teams to the [Winter Olympics](http://time.com/5142825/pyeongchang-olympics-opening-ceremony-america-korea/). Thirty years after the four-man Jamaican bobsled team debuted at the Olympics in Calgary, Canada—and inspired the movie [_Cool Runnings_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106611/)—Jamaica sent Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian and Carrie Russell to Pyeongchang to continue the island’s bobsledding legacy. Russell’s and Fenlator-Victorian’s journey to become the first Jamaican women to compete in the Winter Games has not been easy—and the internet has been rapt at the unfolding drama. Last week, their coach Sandra Kiriasis, a two-time Olympic medalist, [abruptly quit the team](http://time.com/5160243/jamaica-bobsled-coach/) taking the team’s sled with her. Kiriasis reportedly demanded payment for the sled’s use when she left, which [the Jamaican Bobsled Federation declined](http://www.bbc.com/sport/winter-olympics/43058774), according to the _BBC_. That left the team without a sled—until [a beer company stepped in](http://time.com/5163841/red-stripe-gives-jamaica-bobsled-olympics/). In what can only be described as an internet fairy tale, Jamaican beer company Red Stripe tweeted that they would come to the team’s rescue and sent them a new sled, just in time for the team to compete in their first scheduled training run. > [](https://twitter.com/RedStripeUSA/status/964169363854151680) When the team took to the bobsled track to compete in the two-woman portion of the Olympic competition on Tuesday, the internet couldn’t handle it. > [](https://twitter.com/Certainium/status/966289979004542976) > [](https://twitter.com/Soulsis7/status/966287884801204224) > [](https://twitter.com/RabidRatt/status/966125047889965056) > [](https://twitter.com/srmmichael/status/966124977761202177) > [](https://twitter.com/adriennebyard/status/966123413411688448) > [](https://twitter.com/lanacle/status/966123551362252800) > [](https://twitter.com/MaryBethMath/status/966122642016227328) > [](https://twitter.com/LloydGSR/status/965925929057845248) The team finished [17th on Tuesday](https://www.nbcolympics.com/news/jamaican-women-join-bobsled-party-1st-olympic-run) and second from the bottom at [Wednesday’s women’s contest](https://www.olympic.org/pyeongchang-2018/results/en/bobsleigh/results-women-fnl-000300-.htm) at the Olympic Sliding Centre, but that didn’t deter the excitement. > [](https://twitter.com/ItsDanaeReally/status/966348809394671616) > [](https://twitter.com/MarkieMulchay/status/966345098798739456) > [](https://twitter.com/Monica%5FHanukkah/status/966324448147144706) > [](https://twitter.com/MiraCristine/status/966301016936370177) ## Transcript [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ MUSIC ] You don't even have to be in Nigeria to be confused as to why three Nigerians, who live in Texas, are competing in the sport of bobsled > We had a barbecue lunch. She told me that she wanted to create a bobsled team. I guess I'm a sporadic thinker or I just make rash decisions, I don't know. But I was like, " Sure ", and then afterwards, I was like I need to call somebody else, I get like a second, third or fourth opinion. Once she explained that this is for a continent I was like yeah, it would be absurd not to do it. And I was like My god I think [ UNKNOWN ] just created a team Our team dynamic is pretty unique Like work definitely, like the fun loving group of women that it's very enjoyable being around us Well at the same time, we definitely know how to get to work. I wouldn't have to think about the idea of doing it all over again with anyone else. The dynamic works. Cool Running! Cool Running's reference is just something we get all the time every single day. I mean if I had a dollar For every time I got that I would not mean to fundraise ever again, but it's honorable it's beautiful, because here we are thirty years later you know from when these men took this little faith and just something so special and here others are going to compare it to something of such high stature like that's just it's an honor it. [ NOISE ] [ MUSIC ] It's difficult being the only person who knows anything about the sport for an entire continent. The learning curve was huge. The first thing I think we learned [ UNKNOWN ] to hit this [ UNKNOWN ] on the may flower which is just this wooden tool that we used to help us [ UNKNOWN ] get the technique [ UNKNOWN ] hitting the slide. We spent a lot of time in the weight room and on the tractors working on speed and strength, getting stronger and getting faster We're used to [ UNKNOWN ] From track and field where we just get on the track and do our thing for 30 seconds max. But what Bob said, you're on the track almost like a whole entire work day. I didn't think that I, thought the sport would be so demanding in terms of physically having to move this sled up, you know all of the things that happen prior to actually getting into the sled and Racing. [ NOISE ] Here we go. You're doing stuff in cold weather, you're freezing, But eventually, it got easier and easier, things just kinda started to add up and click. And that's kind of how it is not when it's just like hey, we've only been doing this for a year and we're getting pretty good at it. [ UNKNOWN ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] I was raised a Nigerian in the United States. Being able to represent Nigeria has just been honorable, to say the least. How many people can say that they're going to the Olympics. One and two, putting a whole continent on their back and making this happen. Historically, you probably haven't seen a team from Africa for a very realistic reasons. No one is gonna associate a Sub- Saharan climate with ice or snow. If they can see now and visualize the fact that there are ways to do these things [ MUSIC ] My hope is that the floodgates will open and people will take to the sport and the sport will continue to grow. Amen. Although this is for Nigeria on the actual ballot, this is everything we represent. We represent a community of women Strong women. We represent United States, we represent Houston, we represent Chicago, Dallas, Minnesota, all the places where we have dedicated our lives to, or have been any way shape of forum, a part of our growth. This is for them, this is for you, this is for everyone. 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