Michael Williams is striving to take part in the 2014 Winter Olympics for Jamaica. The novelty of four Jamaicans swapping their tropical Caribbean homeland for the freezing slopes of Canada to become the first team from their country to compete in the bobsleigh was a story that resonated around the world.
It also planted a seed in the brain of another Jamaican who, 22 years later, began his quest to ski at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
The 42-year-old has until January 2014 to achieve the required points to get in. Despite taking up skiing at 40, Michael Williams is determined to represent Jamaica at the 2014 Winter Games.
“I actually watched ‘Cool Runnings’ and the bobsleigh team from 1988 and was inspired,” Williams, who refers to himself as “The Dream Chaser,” told CNN’s Alpine Edge show.
“I just thought it was the coolest thing — Jamaica in the Winter Olympics and they did well.
“I watched a lot of skiing during those Olympics, Alberto Tomba (Italian who won two golds in Calgary) was the king of the Games and I thought, ‘Wow, it’s incredible what these guys can do.’
“I thought I’d love to combine the two, represent Jamaica and ski for Jamaica some time in my life. Jamaica is really proud there’s another guy trying to do what the bobsleigh guys did in 1988.”
But it wasn’t until the 2010 installment of the Games in Vancouver that Williams, who was born and raised by his West Indian mother in Canada, was spurred on to transform his pipe dream into a reality, as another pair of underdogs took on the establishment.
From Christina Macfarlane and Chris Murphy, CNN
