WINTER We can make Bruce proud
OLYMPICS2018
JOEL FEARON wants to win a bobsleigh medal for the friend who should have been here with him in pursuit of glory.
Britain’s Fearon and Bruce Tasker dreamed of success as part of the four-man team until a turn of events last month that nobody could have expected.
Tasker was taken ill with vertigo, sickness and dizziness. He had suffered a stroke. He is just 30.
“It’s hard to be here without Bruce. He’s a close friend and it’s a massive blow,” said Fearon, 29. “He’s my training partner and I’ve never done anything in bobsleigh without him.
“There’s not been one exciting time without him being somewhere close to me. So for me it was really difficult and he is probably the most respected guy in the team – a rock of the sport. It is hard but hopefully we’ll make him proud.”
Tasker is now recovering, with the hope of competing in Beijing at the 2022 Winter Olympics, and after finishing 12th in the two-man bobsleigh yesterday, Fearon is now focusing on the four-man event.
But a medal for the pair could arrive sooner. They were part of the four-man team which finished fifth in Sochi four years ago. Two Russian crews ahead of them have both been subsequently banned for doping but finally getting their hands on bronze remains mired in sporting red tape.
“I know I should be here as an Olympic medallist and that hurts,” said Fearon, one of Britain’s five fastest sprinters, running 9.96 in 2016.
“Right now I consider myself an Olympic medallist, I just don’t have the medal yet. We were denied our medal moment.”
As Fearon and driver Brad Hall finished 12th, Canada’s Justin Kripps and Germany’s Francesco Friedrich won gold medals after a dead-heat, the first in the Olympic two-man bobsleigh competition since Nagano in 1998.
Kripps and four-times world champion Friedrich both finished in three minutes 16.86 seconds. Latvia’s Oskars Melbardis took bronze. Jamaica’s first women’s bobsleigh team have been bailed by Red Stripe, one of the country’s most popular beer producers, after their coach quit and threatened to take the sled with her.
They are set to compete in a sled “donated” by the company.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s anti-doping division have begun proceedings against medal-winning Russian curler Alexander Krushelnitckii, who won bronze with his wife in the mixed doubles but was formally charged with testing positive for meldonium, the same drug used by Maria Sharapova. ●Watch Team GB’s bobsledders in action today on Eurosport 2 at 11.50am. Don’t miss a moment of the Olympic Winter Games at Eurosport.co.uk and the Eurosport app.