‘Cool Runnings’ impact on bobsled legacy questionable
Jamaican bobsledder J azmin Fenlator-Victorian says that she has mixed feelings about what the movie ‘Cool Runnings’ has done for the national team’s identity internationally.
The movie, which was released in 1993, was inspired by Jamaica’s first Winter Olympic Bobsled team at the 1988 games in Calgary, Canada.
Although the events of the film did not exactly represent what took place in reality, many, especially foreigners, identify later generations of the national bobsledders by the country’s affiliation with the movie rather than by their performances on the ice.
Fenlator-Victorian says that whether the team likes it or not, the movie has left a legacy that it has to embrace.
“I go back and forth on whether the movie hindered or helped to accelerate the popularity of bobsleigh, as well as Jamaica Bobsleigh as a programme,” she says. “What we’re facing now, 30 years later, is generations haven’t even seen the movie but they know of the movie.
“So they’re Runnings!’
“The problem we face with that is (their) not actually knowing results and what the teams have accomplished. just like ‘Oh! Cool
COMPETING OVERSEAS
She says that drivers often feel like a tourist attraction when they meet fans while competing overseas. However, she says that this pushes them to continue the legacy.
“That’s extremely important to me. The founders of our team and their original crew are still involved and are so passionate about the programme and the sport in general.”
She says that it can be what she describes as “a little bit of a distraction” because it’s all about what she calls the “hype of the movie”.
“People ask you, ‘Oh seriously? You’re on the Jamaica bobsled team? That’s so funny,” she says. “And then they quote the movie. But if it wasn’t for the movie, a lot of that recognition wouldn’t be possible for us gaining sponsorships for the team. After that movie, these were super beneficial to some of our top performances over the years as a team. So as much as it could be kind of annoying, or a distraction, we embrace it because we know it’s just part of the culture and the story of our team.”
She says that this motivates this generation of the team to look to make its own mark.”
Fenlator-Victorian, who once represented the United States, was born to a woman of German, Polish, and Latvian heritage and a Jamaican man from Cave, Westmoreland. She pilots Jamaica’s two-member team of her and brake-woman Carrie Russell. They will be looking to make history for being the first female Jamaican team to ever compete in the Winter Olympics should they qualify for the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.