Bobsled legend still backs the underdog
IT is the classic underdog story that has become immortalised in the passing of time, but a central figure in the Cool Runnings Jamaican bobsled tale says he initially defied the fame.
Chris Stokes has not competed for three decades but is being mobbed by fans seeking autographs on the Gold Coast.
The unlikely winter sport hero from the tropics is remembered for his deeds at the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988, where his blobsled team did not offically finish, and the cult hit movie Cool Runnings was released five years later.
However, he says the early fame did not sit well with him.
“At first I thought there are other things I want to do and I want to be known for,” said Mr Stokes, who is on the Coast in his role as first vicepresident of the Jamaican Commonwealth Association.
“So many people want to do something extraordinary or something they don’t have the confidence to do, so it helps to have hard evidence, a reason to believe.
“And when you look at four guys from Jamaica to take on a very difficult winter sport, have the courage to take it up. And not only take it up, but fail and keep going.
“They want to be a Jamaican bobsleigher in their own life. I’m learning to honour that.”
Mr Stokes, joined in Canada in 1988 by Devon Harris, Dudley Stokes and Michael White, said he never expected their inspiring story to be so widely embraced.
“You’re in the grind, you’re working, pursuing your dreams to achieve what you set out to and you’re certainly not thinking about becoming famous,” he said.
“But we didn’t even think of how it impacts people’s lives. You’re trying to do your thing and then one day you realise that means something to other people.
“Then the movie sort of immortalises everything and that means it can continue to mean something from generation to generation.”
The film has copped flak over the years for being fictionalised, but as Mr Stokes says, it is a Disney film, not a documentary.
“It’s a story and it tells a story well.
“There are a couple of things that are added for entertainment, but we were an unlikely group that found a coach who was good but a little disillusioned with the sport.
“We had to go up against an establishment that didn’t really want us there.
“We had to learn the sport from scratch and we did try to emulate other folks and we came to understand that we had to do the sport our way.
“All of those things are portrayed in the movie.
“Rarely do I watch it on purpose, but it comes on so often!” he said, feigning exasperation.
“I’m on a flight and it’s on, or Netflix now or the Disney Channel.
“This is cool – it came on in Korea at the Winter Olympics. And I’d never seen myself speak Korean before. So that was a new experience.”
Even in his role with the Jamaican Commonwealth Games team, Mr Stokes backs the underdog, reminding his team that even though Jamaica is a small country, they are still mighty.
“I have had an opportunity to speak to the athletes, to the management, everyone, to convey a sense of belonging here,” he said.
“I know we are from a small island – it’s only three million people – but there’s nobody here that’s better than us and I say that because I really believe it’s true.
“I believe that you have it within yourself to make yourself as good as the next guy, or better.
“Look at Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the history of the world. He wants to reach out and touch and connect with people.”