21 Feb 1998: Dudley Stokes,Winston Watt,Nelson Stokes and Wayne Thomas of Jamaica compete in the four man bobsled competition at the Spiral during the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan. Mandatory Credit: Shaun Botterill /Allsport
Nearly 30 years after "Cool Runnings" became a feel-good hit movie, it's time for a reboot.
The Jamaican four-man bobsled team is back in the Winter Olympics for the first time in decades after qualifying for a spot in next month's competition in Beijing.
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It marks the first time the four-man Jamaican team has earned a berth in the Winter Olympics since the 1998 Games in Nagano. Their famous origin story in their journey from the small island nation to their first Winter Olympics in Calgary in 1988 was the subject of the 1993 movie "Cool Runnings."
The team's results in international competition this season punched their ticket on Monday to be part of the field of 28 four-man teams.
"BREAKING!!! JAMAICA, WE HAVE A BOBSLED TEAM HEADING TO BEIJING! 📣📣📣" Team Jamaica wrote on Instagram Monday.
"It will be fire on ice as Team Jamaica 🇯🇲 secured their spot at the 2022 Beijing #WinterOlympics."
Team Jamaica also made history by qualifying in three different bobsled events for the first time: four-man, two-man and the new women's monobob event. The team could also potentially compete in the two-woman bobsled event as an alternate if a qualifying team drops out.
The four-man roster for Jamaica has not been announced yet, but the sled is expected to be piloted by Shanwayne Stephens, who has competed with push athletes Matthew Wekpe, Ashley Watson and Rolando Reid in every four-man race he participated in this season, according to NBC Olympics.
The original four-man Jamaican bobsled team famously trained with a slapped-together sled on a concrete track in preparation for the Calgary Games. The athletes had never even seen a bobsled before.
“I remember saying to myself, ‘Nobody could ever get me to go on one of those things,’’’ original team member Devon Harris told TODAY in 2018. “That’s crazy.”
Their underdog story became a highlight of the Olympics despite finishing 30th in the two-man sled and crashing at 85 mph in the four-man sled. The crash disqualified them, but the team drew a roar from the crowd when they got out of the sled and walked to the finish line.
Chris Stokes, who was a member of that famous team, is now the president of Jamaica's bobsled federation.
Jamaica qualified in at least one men's bobsled event from 1988-2002, but then didn't send any teams until another unlikely run to a berth in the 2014 Games in Sochi in the two-man bobsled event.
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One of the team members, Winston Watts, was 46 at the time, which was eight years older than any other bobsledder in history who qualified for the Olympics. He was working in oil fields in Wyoming when teammate and friend Lascelles “King” Brown recruited him to make a run at an Olympic spot. The pair finished 28th out of 29 teams in Sochi.
The Jamaican women qualified in the bobsled for the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, but no men's teams made the field.
In addition to the bobsled contingent who qualified for Beijing, Jamaica also had Alpine skier, Benjamin Alexander, a former nightclub DJ in Hong Kong of Jamaican heritage, make the field.
The highest Olympic finish for a Jamaican men's bobsled team is 14th, so the newest group is hoping to beat that mark and add another feel-good story to the one that made them famous 29 years ago.
“Jamaica bobsled is about overcoming incredible odds,’’ Stokes told TODAY in 2018.
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