It’s been decades since ‘Cool Runnings,’ but Jamaica’s bobsled team are still inspiring a generation of winter athletes

Though the four man team crashed and received a “Did Not Finish” result, the exploits of Dudley ‘Tal’ Stokes, Michael White, Devon Harris and Chris Stokes were immortalized in the 1993 hit, which remains one of the highest grossing sports comedies. Now, perhaps more importantly, the team have inadvertently inspired generations of Jamaican winter sports stars. “People watch ‘Cool Runnings’ and they’re very influenced in a lot of ways,” Tal Stokes told CNN Sport. Decades later, for the first time in Olympic history, the island nation qualified in three bobsled events — the two-man bobsled, the women’s monobob and the four-man bobsled — as well as entering its first ever alpine skier. Jamaica’s two-man bobsled team of Shanwayne Stephens and Nimroy Turgott came in last in the event, but the nation will get a second bite at the cherry this week in the four-man event.In the years since his Olympic debut, Stokes has become more comfortable with his position in sporting and pop-culture history.”I’ve come to appreciate that Olympic participation is a worthy goal. Participation that’s aimed not at getting a gold medal does have its place,” he said. “Most people, most athletes at an Olympic Games … one: no medal, and two: don’t get into the finals. That’s a reality.”Life is a struggle, anything worth doing in life is a struggle. And anytime you enter into a struggle, you are going to suffer. And the one thing I would like to communicate to people that people think that suffering is something to be avoided: no. That’s the reality.”What we need to develop is: how are we going to survive in the struggle and the suffering, and eventually triumph?”