Up to last month, the women’s team of Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian and brake woman Audra Segree were favoured to be listed among the automatic qualifiers for the Beijing 2022 Winter Games, among the world’s top 12 teams. By the time January rolled around, however, a conflation of unfortunate circumstances had changed things entirely. According to Silver, things began to go wrong from the perspective of the team at Latvia's Sigulda World Series where there was a Covid-19 outbreak.
“We did everything we could. We missed out because of the weather and believe it or not Covid,” Silver explained.
How it works is there are races across the world, after Christmas, the first race was in Latvia, and unfortunately, 7 athletes couldn’t race, which meant that athletes that would have finished lower down finished higher and received points that they wouldn’t have if the race was full of athletes,” he added.
“In another race, a massive amount of snow meant that athletes who raced later benefited from the snow being clear. Now, with the snow it's part of the sport, we expect that.”
In the final standing, the team finished tied with France for the final spot but were edge out via the tiebreak. The team could still qualify for the Games if France or any of the other 10 teams above them Germany, Canada, United States, China, ROC, Switzerland, Romania, Austria, Great Britain, Australia, or Belgium are unable to take part in the event.
“With Covid, the girls finished third overall on the NAC, and before Christmas, I would have said I was confident and with the press release, had it been what we had expected and predicted they were probably our safest option,” he added
“However, things that changed but that’s sports. For each bad thing that goes against you sometimes we get good things and fingers crossed we were bang on points, and who knows maybe this time around luck will go with us. Hopefully not at the expense of anyone else but hopefully the girls will get to live their dreams as well because they worked so hard.”
Inescapably, whenever a Jamaica team qualifies for the Olympics, an inexorable link is made to the 1993 smash hit Cool Runnings, which starred the late John Candy and Doug E. Doug that went on to become a cult classic.
Unlike the movie, however, the hard yards put in to get to the Olympics, for the nation that has never seen a drop of snow, has always been real.
Stokes was a last-minute alternate when the team crashed the sled during the historic catapult down the ice in the four-man competition, in Calgary 1988, for the squad that would become immortalised in film. He and others have pushed on ever since. The team has subsequently appeared at another eight Olympic Games. The men’s team, however, last appeared at the Winter sports spectacle in 2014 when a two-man team of Marvin Dixon and Winston Watts finished in 24th place and have not taken part as a four-man unit since 1998. In the upcoming Olympics, the men’s team will make a triumphant return, but the team has also qualified for the two-man event and women’s monobob to appear in a historic three events.
“It has a special place in my heart to know that we will be in the four-man event once again at the Olympics, having been a part of that team myself (In 1988) it gives me great satisfaction,” Stokes said.
“It's not something that we take for granted it's hard work every time to qualify and it is a huge step for us to have three teams at the Games this year.”
With a bit more luck it could have been four, with the women’s two-woman team finishing just outside of the automatic qualification spots based on a tiebreaker. The team could still appear at the Games having secured the position as the first alternate, should any of the automatic qualifiers withdraw from the event.
“The two-woman team of Audra Segree and Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian were close. They were in the qualifying spots for most of the way but in the last few weeks, I think some very questionable decisions were made when it comes to qualification. I can’t say that I was surprised because these things happen, but it was unfortunate.”
The women’s team made its debut at the 2018 Winter Games with Fenlator-Victorian and Carrie Russell taking part in the event. Despite the possibility of that team being left out this time around, qualifying three teams is not a feat to be scoffed at.
“We have an absolutely outstanding program and we don’t take it for granted. We have a strong administration and an elite coaching staff that are wanted all over the world.”
With a population of just under 3 million, Jamaica is typically listed among the smallest to compete at any Olympic Games. Making the Winter Olympic Games on a fairly consistent basis, sandwiched in between the resource-rich snowy alpine nations, is another level of achievement entirely.
The 1993 cult classic Cool Runnings, which starred Doug E Doug and the late John Candy, shone a light on the exploits of the 1988 Jamaica Olympic team, which debuted at the Calgary Winter Olympics. What business did a tiny island from the tropics, in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, have careening down the ice at breakneck speed? Surely it must be a one-off occasion. Well, think again, the team has gone on to make the Olympics on another six occasions, and come Beijing 2022 will head into the Games having qualified for the most events in its history. Jamaica will be represented by Alpine skier Alexander Benjamin, bobsledders Shanwayne Stephens Rolando Reid, Ashley Watson, and Matthew Wekpe, in the four-man and two-man events, and Fenlator-Victorian who will take part in the women’s monobob. It remains a scenario very much against the odds.
“On this team, we are always looking to move forward, even if it’s the smallest step forward. That’s ingrained in our culture, that’s engrained in the culture of Jamaica,” Fenlator-Victorian told SportsMax.Tv’s InCaseYouMissedIT.
“It’s in our blood to overcome adversity and do the best that we can, with our heads held high and to give our best effort. With great victories, there will always be struggles. If you can endure the struggle and keep moving forward at the end of the road there will be opportunity.”
At 36, Fenlator-Victorian will be heading for her second Olympics appearance for Jamaica, and third overall, having been part of the two-woman team, along with Carrie Russell, that debuted for the Caribbean Country at the 2018 Olympics. Jamaica’s two-woman team narrowly missed out on qualification for the Beijing Games, losing out on the final spot via a tiebreak. For her part, with retirement on her mind after the Beijing Games, Fenlator-Victorian hopes she has done enough to light a beacon for future generations.
“I’m entering the latter part of my career, to after these Games enter alumni status. I hope I have created that way for future females to continue the legacy. To not just be there the first time, but to come back again a second time. Back-to-back Olympics is a huge feat and I hope we can continue that moving forward."
On Monday, a CAS panel rejected an appeal filed by woman bobsledder Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian who had called for a recalculation of the point rankings for the Beijing 2022 Quota Allocation for the two-woman event, based only on races that actually took place.
The appeal was based on the decision made by the Olympic organisers after inclement weather had led to the cancelation of a meet scheduled for Germany on December 4. According to the filing, the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation instead counted a December 5 competition twice, which allowed a sled piloted by France’s Margot Boch to qualify for the final spot in the two-woman bobsled competition at the Olympics. The decision meant Audra Segree, Fenlator-Victorian's brakewoman, missed out on a spot via a tiebreak. The court, however, rejected the appeal.
While insisting it was important to air their grouses, Stokes insists the team is ready to move on.
“The decision has come down as dismissed, we accept that wholeheartedly. Winning is one thing but the more important thing is to speak up and I’m very proud of Jazmine for speaking up,” Stokes said.
“We maintain that it is better sports results be determined on the field of play and not in administration but we put that behind us and we are now in a high-performance zone and we are getting ready for competition.”
Fenlator-Victorian will compete in the Women’s Monobob, which gets underway on February 11. Jamaica’s men’s team will compete in both the Two-Man and Four-Man events, which get underway a few days later.
