Jamaica bobsleigh's Shanwayne Stephens: Our mission was always about inspiring people

Shanwayne Stephens and the Jamaican bobsleigh team exemplified what the Olympics are all about: inspiring people.

And that's just what they did by competing in the 2-man and 4-man events at Beijing 2022.

For the first time since 2014, the nation competed in the 2-man and it had been 24 years since they were competing in the 4-man.

Of course the cult classic film 'Cool Runnings' will always be a part of the team's legacy and identity, but pilot Stephens has been key in writing a new chapter in the nation's story.

Stephens is a Royal Air Force (RAF) officer from Peterborough, England, and he took up the sport in 2015 while in the RAF. He was born in Jamaica, but moved to Great Britain with his family in 2002.

"The whole journey for us hasn’t been about bobsleigh, it’s about inspiring people," Lance Corporal Stephens told the PA news agency after the team arrived back home in the UK.

"The world has been turned upside down in the last two years, kids have been stuck inside, and we just wanted to say to them that they should dream big.

"That’s what we did, we were always massive underdogs and we are proud of what we achieved."

The main achievement for Jamaica was the fact that, for the first time in history, the Caribbean nation qualified for three bobsleigh events: 2-man, 4-man and women's monobob.

Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian was the only woman on Team Jamaica at Beijing 2022 and she finished 19th in the women's monobob, which was a new event in this most recent edition of the Games.

Crew member Ashley Watson, who is also British born but whose father was born and raised in Jamaica, spoke about the camaraderie among the bobsleigh community while in Beijing.

"People were talking to us, especially the other teams," he said.

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