Black folks first “discovered” bobsledding as a sport during the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary when the Jamaican national team made their introduction to the world and Cool Runnings became a part of our cultural lexicon.
This week marks the start of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia and Team USA is coming out strong, particularly with five Black women who qualified for the bobsledding team. Several of them are well-known Track & Field stars who have transferred their skills onto a narrow track of ice, pushing, jumping and steering a tightly packed sled, using gravity, determination and hope to shoot as fast as possible. The world is watching and the expectations are high as both the men and women’s US teams have posted some of the highest speeds during qualifying trials.
Here’s an introduction to the Black women who are ready to bring home the gold.
