Bobsleigh legend Devon Harris wants solid programme
As Jamaica’s bobsleighers get ready for action at the Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, a member of its pioneer team that created a stir at the 1988 Games believes the sport should have long transcended novelty status.
Devon Harris, brakeman for the four-man team at the Games in Calgary 34 years ago, told the Jamaica Observer that Jamaican administrators have a “pie in the sky” approach, hence the failure to even be competitive.
“We need to stop creating a team and start building a programme. We have tried to patch a group of guys and now women together with the pie in the sky idea that we’re going to win medals and that ain’t gonna happen,” Harris argued. “We need to spend time nurturing, finding talent and developing them.”
Harris, who lives in New York, has a testy relationship with the Jamaica Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, which has been led for many years by the Stokes brothers, Dudley and Chris, who were his teammates at the Calgary Games.
Jamaica’s bobsled team has been to the Winter Olympics multiple times since their sensational Canadian debut. They have retained their novelty tag but never seriously challenged for medals.
Harris blames that on the bobsled authorities.
“To use a baseball term, they have to go for the singles, go for the small wins as opposed to putting a team together at the last minute and think that we’re going to swing for the fences and hit a home run, and win a gold medal. It’s just not going to happen,” he said.
The Jamaicans bow into the Beijing Games on Saturday when three-time Olympian Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian competes in the first monobob event. The two-man bobsleigh competes Monday and Tuesday while the four-men bobsleigh make their appearance on February 25 and 26.
Harris, the Stokes brothers, Michael White and Freddy Powell represented Jamaica at the Calgary Winter Olympics. Competing with limited financial resources and equipment, their courageous performances in the four-man and two-man events made them fan favourites.
Their exploits inspired the 1993 hit movie Cool Runnings, which starred John Candy and Leon.
— Howard Campbell
