Grange lauds Jamaica’s Bobsled team for making it to the 2022 Winter Olympics
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange, says Jamaica’s team to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China “demonstrates that nothing is impossible.”
Dubbing the team’s historic accomplishments as simply inspirational, Grange said that for a country that doesn’t have snow, Jamaica keeps breaking new ground.
“’We don’t have no snow yet here we are competing against the world’s best on ice,” said Grange at a news conference to announce the members of Jamaica’s team who have qualified for the games.
“These are the first Olympics in which Jamaica will be represented in three bobsleigh events. In addition to the women’s monobob [a new event at the Olympics], we’ve qualified for the two-man event; and for the first time in 24 years we’re back in the four-man competition.”
And there’s the possibility that Jamaica could compete in a fourth bobsleigh event as the two-woman team missed out on a tiebreaker but could still compete as first alternate if one of the qualifying nations withdraws. To that end, the Minister said “we keep our fingers crossed.”
Grange told the bobsleigh team during the conference that “this generation — and others to come — will look up to you and be inspired by you because of your unlikely presence at the Winter Games representing a tropical country and doing well.”
“You are stories of dedication and commitment filled with a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Your hard work has already paid off,” she continued.
Grange also used the opportunity to highlight Jamaica’s success in skiing pointing out that “for the first time at the Winter Olympics, Jamaica will have a competitor in Alpine Skiing and I want to congratulate Benjamin Alexander on this wonderful achievement for our country.”
Alexander is the second skier to represent Jamaica at the Winter Games following Errol Kerr who finished ninth in the Ski Cross at the 2010 Games in Vancouver.
“As you go to Beijing, please know that the entire country is cheering you on; and you can continue to count on the support of the Ministry and the Government of Jamaica,” said Minister Grange.
The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games begin on February 4.
