The United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation has offered to assist the Jamaica Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (JBSF) with physiotherapy services at the Winter Olympics to be held in Beijing, China, starting next week, it was announced on Friday.

The Jamaicans were set to be without a physiotherapist after Dr Jo Brown, who has been with the Jamaican teams through the qualifying period, was left off the list of officials to be accredited.

Jamaica has qualified a record three teams for the Olympics, in the monobob as well as the two- and four-man events, while Benjamin Alexander is set to be the first Jamaican to compete in Alpine Skiing.

At a virtual press conference on Friday during which the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) formalised its financial support, Nelson ‘Chris’ Stokes, the president of the JBSF, announced that the Americans, having heard of their plight, had extended assistance, which he said brought him “to tears”.

In listing the support the federation had received from various overseas national federations, Stokes said of Jamaica “there is no better country or culture to be born into.”

Jamaica, he said, had received assistance from Canada who gave them the four-man sled they used for the qualifying and will use during the Games, while the United Kingdom federation had allowed the team to use its training facilities based in Bath, Somerset.

Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett announced the JTB’s $3-million support of the Jamaica team, saying at the press conference “this is not what you want but it will fill a gap.”

The Jamaican team started arriving in Beijing on Friday, flying from the UK, via France.