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Jamaican Bobsled Team (1988)

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Sports Team

The Resume

    Represented Jamaica at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary
    Consisted of Devon Harris, Dudley Stokes, Chris Stokes and Michael White
    Inspired the movie 'Cool Runnings' (1993)

Why they might be annoying:

    The idea of a tropical island nation taking part in the Winter Olympics was widely viewed as a novelty.
    They recorded a reggae album as a fundraiser.
    They were so unused to running on ice that original team member Caswell Allen slipped and was injured a week before the Olympics.
    As a replacement, they drafted Chris Stokes who had never seen a bobsled before and was in Calgary just to cheer on his brother Dudley.
    They crashed on their third run and officially failed to finish.

Why they might not be annoying:

    Given the importance of the initial push off in bobsledding, recruiting a team in Jamaica, a hotbed of sprinters, was not so daft as it first sounds.
    Other bobsledders gave them advice and support, and loaned them a backup sled.
    They were a crowd favorite.
    Jamaica built on their foundation, finishing 14th in the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics, putting them ahead of the US, Russia and France.
    Jamaican-born Lascelles Brown, who won silver (2006) and bronze (2010) Olympic medals in bobsledding (albeit while competing for Canada), said his inspiration was 'Cool Runnings.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 4 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 5 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 12 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 14 Votes: 35.71% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 97 Votes: 50.52% Annoying