THE failure of Jamaica’s bobsled team to secure a place at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, is disappointing, says Chris Stokes.

Jamaica needed to finish among the top 30 sleds to book their tickets but were out of contention after ending their campaign in an agonising 32nd spot.

It dealt a terrible blow to the ambitious Jamaicans, who attained global prominence in the sport following their historic appearance in Calgary in 1988.

Since then, the country has been to every Winter Olympis, except for 2006, but Stokes said the change in rules governing qualification has made their chances more difficult.

“We’re in fact disappointed, as you can imagine, but it’s hard to say that anything went wrong. The qualification standards for bobsleigh are getting tighter and tighter every Olympics.

“Many of our teams that qualified in the past would not have qualified under current standards,” said Stokes, who added “all the traditionally small bobsleigh nations have dropped out of the sport, except Jamaica.”

According to Stokes, a member of the 1988, 1992 and 1994 bobsleigh teams, the new qualification system is conducted via a process through which each country must participate in seven events sanctioned by the International Bobsleigh Federation.

Aside from the host country, qualification can only be achieved by the result of the pilot or driver who must be in the top-50 list.

This, Stokes said, makes it difficult for Jamaica, compared to previous years when qualification was conducted over a two-year period between 1994 and 2002. Any country could enter prior to 1994, as there was no qualification system at the time.

The system was again amended for the 2006 Winter Games. Jamaica needed to finish in the top-two in a race called the Continental Cup, but missed out by a few milliseconds, claiming third.

But Stokes says there is hope Jamaica could be represented in bobsled at the next Winter Olympics in 2014 Sochi, Russia.

“Hannukkah Wallace is a young driver and he has done very well. After three years in the sport he is ranked seventh in the world as a Junior and 48th as a Senior,” said Stokes, now general secretary of the Jamaica Bobsleigh Federation.

Jamaica is being represented at the 21st Winter Olympics by American-born skier Errol Kerr, who will be challenging for a podium position in freestyle skiing.

Stokes, who is the chef de mission for Jamaica at the Games which officially started with the Opening Ceremony on Friday, is hoping Kerr will surpass all expectations and hand the country its first Winter Olympic medal.