Brazil’s ’Frozen Bananas’ bobsleigh star wants new moniker for the ’Cool Runnings’

Yanqing, China - Olympic veteran Edson Bindilatti says it's high time that Brazil's bobsleigh team finally ditched its nickname 'Frozen Bananas' and earned some respect on the ice track at the Winter Games.

The 42-year-old will pilot the Brazilian bobsleigh in both the two- and four-man events at the Beijing Olympics.

He is competing at his fifth Winter Games, having made his debut at Salt Lake City in 2002.

Back then, the Brazilian bobsleigh team was dubbed the 'Frozen Bananas' because of its bright-yellow sled.

"Receiving the nickname was quite funny, we didn't see it as an offence or a put-down," Bindilatti told AFP.

"Our sled was yellow and the banana is a typical Brazilian fruit.

"We took it with a lot of good humour because it was something new for everyone."

Bindilatti is a former decathlete who won the national title six times.

He switched to bobsleigh when the president of the Brazilian Ice Sports Federation proposed he join the team to push the sled.

To help him understand the sport, he was told to watch the hit 1993 movie 'Cool Runnings' - the against-all-odds story of the Jamaican team at the 1988 Calgary Games.

Bindilatti was soon hooked and Brazil's bobsleigh story has been touted as a real-life version of Cool Runnings.

At the Salt Lake City Games, he was on board when the four-man 'Frozen Bananas' finished 27th, then 25th four years later at the Turin Games.

They failed to qualify for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, but with Bindilatti by now piloting the bob, the Brazilians finished 26th at the 2014 Sochi Games.

That was when they wanted to drop the 'Frozen Bananas' nickname with the Brazilian bob now bearing a more sleek black look alongside the yellow, green and blue of the national flag.

The