The Jamaican bobsled team has faced their fair share of hiccups during their storied history. Now they’re tackling another on their way to competing at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea: they don’t have a coach.
The team has launched a crowdfunding campaign to hire a head coach for their men’s and women’s teams, in the hopes of pushing them to the next level that will take them to the Games.
“With a coach on staff, we believe we can not only contend for a medal, but also bring a medal home and commemorate this outstanding achievement,” they wrote on their GoFundMe page.
Next year’s Winter Games will mark the 30th anniversary of the Jamaican bobsled team’s debut when they competed at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.
Fenlater-Victorian and her teammates were in Calgary in November and made headlines after their car broke down on the way to a race. A local resident and a Calgary-based rental company lent them a hand to ensure they had transportation.
But the team’s social media accounts show other difficulties they’ve faced. One video shows team members patching up their fraying speed suits with duct tape.
Another tweet shows them squeezing into a small van with their sled.
So far, they’ve raised just over US $1,500 of their $60,000 goal.