‘Power of the people’ propels duo
Crowdfunding gets pair to Games
The infectious joy exuded by Mica McNeill and Mica Moore, Britain’s crowdfunded bobsled duo, could not be more starkly at odds with the rancour and mudslinging that brought them here.
Five months ago, the two learned that money for the women’s team would be scrapped after miscalculations caused the national governing body to go over budget.
As funding oversights go, the decision by the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association (BBSA) to leave the two Micas to fend for themselves counts as one of the most egregious. The pair had proven their worth in global competition, with McNeill winning gold at the world junior championship last year, and they had difficulty reconciling their treatment with the continued support for three British men’s crews.
While their grievances grew, allegations of bullying, sexism and racism became the subject of an independent review.
Courtesy of what McNeill described as “power of the people,” she and her partner reached their online funding target of 30,000 pounds (about $53,000) in little over a week, reciprocating such strong public faith by moving to sixth in the standings with two runs left, just 0.46 seconds behind German leaders Mariama Jamanka and Lisa Buckwitz.
“We have a few little things to tidy up on our drive,” said McNeill. “Being new to this track, we are still learning. But we are so happy just to be here and that is flowing through to our performance.”
On a night when heavily bankrolled British speedskating let slip its last medal hope with a third straight failure for Elise Christie, the move to let McNeill and Moore scrape together most of their money by public goodwill seemed, frankly, absurd.