thank you good morning that's morning somewhere but hey you may notice that my
neck is slanted to one side us from that crash I haven't really recovered I'm
kidding I'm fine but there is one question I would really like to ask are
you guys having a good time so so one of the questions I'm always asked when
people discover I'm all the original members of the team is which character
played in the movie are you guys wondering that I'm this guy here yeah I
mean since then I went on a diet I got a tan and this is a new me you like I
guess you're not buying that are you well the truth is that the characters in
the movie are really different from real-life characters so if I had to
choose one I'd say mute Brenda the bald-headed guy played by Malik Yoba the
challenges that whenever I do that people go oh so you are the mean one but
you may remember Malik is a guy are you brother he was a guy I wanted to go to
Buckingham Palace to live he was a dreamer and that's how I see myself as
well as a dreamer the next question I'm asked is so you know Jamaica is smack in
the middle of the Caribbean Sea you know we're 90 miles from from Miami how in
the world does one come up with the idea to start a bobsled team in Jamaica I
suppose you guys are wondering that too huh an inquisitive bunch huh all right
fine I'll tell you the story is that two Americans who lived in Jamaica George
Fitch and William Maloney there in a local bar in Kingston imbibing some of
the more potent swords we have on the island now you know I wasn't there but I
have to believe that they were probably enjoying some of the rumors we have on
the island as well but but look I don't want to start on a rumor so don't quote
me on that I'm just saying you know whether they're likely I'm they were
drinking and they became involved in one of those profound philosophical
conversations I mean engage in whatever the meet at the watering hole
they were discussing women and sports I mean we are philosophers man and on this
occasion they were discussing the popular belief in Jamaica that Jamaican
athletes and women were the best in the world well there was no way for them to
test the theory about the woman without getting in trouble with their wives so
they decided to put the latter to the test and how many of you have seen Cool
Runnings Wow so now we know who is not marking homework at home what watching
TV huh but this I remember Sanka was driving
this wooden car down a winding Mountain Road
we actually do do that in Jamaica I've never done it myself because it's really
dangerous I just don't do dangerous stuff but but but they saw it though
they saw it and thought you look like Bob selling except for the ice and
discover that a big part of a bobsled race is a start and it's printers and
guess where we have lots of sprinters but actually you have more than we do
but ours are faster so that's just how we roll what can I say
so I'm with this bit of information they approached the guys on the summer team
to try and get them interested in this Bob said idea and the response was Bob
whoo man we live in Jamaica the only Bob we know is Bob Marley and he's dead No
thank you so they came to the army looking for athletes at the time I was a
young lieutenant oh I'm getting some funny looks well you guys didn't know
that Jamaica had an army I mean seriously
why do you think the United States I've never even considered invade in Jamaica
I mean I'm telling you man those coconuts make really good missiles so be
warned well they came to the army looking for athletes my colonel
suggested that I tried out for the team now my challenge is the fact that I'm
Jamaican where everybody Sprint's fast except me I was a I couldn't win
anything in the hundreds or 200 so I was a middle distance runner I ran around
800 and 1500 meters so how does one select a bobsled team in Jamaica I might
well interestingly enough the very same way all the major Nations selected their
teams back then yeah it's kind of like the NFL Combine it's printing 30 to 60
100 meters 300 meters through a shotput from between your legs and doing what we
call a push test with a makeshift set so basically you're you're testing speed
and explosive power so obviously for me that I mean it was a daunting task
because I was a middle distance runner the only test that was comfortable for
me was the 300 meter run that's what I did for speed work as a middle distance
runner but you know I tried and I tried I tried my darkness and there were two
guys from the American team who had come down to administer the trials and one of
them said to me you had a good day today you know exhaling I went back to the
base went to the officers mess and I slept it was a Friday afternoon and I
slept the entire night I was so exhausted man from from two days of
effort and I woke up on Saturday morning my friends are calling with the Olympian
whoa what happened well that night on the sports news the unknowns that
Jamaican bobsled team and I was one of the person named to the team so you know
I'm excited I'm excited but consciousness so because you know I
haven't been told anything officially and I'm in the Army they can go no no
there's Duty over here no Bob setting for you but eventually about two weeks
later I got an airline ticket and they say hey you're going Bob studying so I
turn about the airport and I saw three guys where I recognized from the team
tries this is an early picture of us the white guy is not one of the team members
that's
that's that's George Fitch one of the Americans who came up with the idea
next to George's is Michael white Mike he was a private in the army or a really
operator the fastest guy on the team and next to Mike is some with Clayton Sammy
was the only civilian it was an engineer with a railway company and that's me
next to Sammy lieutenant platoon commander and that's
done the stokes he was an army captain and a helicopter pilot so we we met
George we flew up to New York met George drove up to Lake Placid New York we met
our coach Howard Siler the other white guy pictured here know that black thing
between us there that's a two-man bobsled and that is the first Bob's that
we're seeing in our lives now this was September 1980 1987 remember when the
Olympics were February 88 yeah and that's the first time we're seeing a
bobsled that weekend we saw a bobsled track for the first time and the
American team was actually in Lake Placid that weekend practicing their
starts on an ice rink and so they invited us to practice with them and
this is a first time menu that we're seeing more ice than you can fit in a
tall glass of lemonade but but what I call that Jamaican is kind of came out
of us and we strolled out on the ice ever got oh let's go beat them it did
not happen I mean we spent more time on our butts that was spent pushing the
slider now and I'm thinking wow this Bob said thing is harder than I thought but
look we survived the weekend so by the weekend returned to Jamaica to continue
our preparations as a jamaica Winter Olympic sports complex pictured right
there
oh yeah yeah that's that's what winters look like in Jamaica but you know the
thing though is that a lot of people who see this bitching and see the sled and
thinking you know what oh what a wonderful piece of German engineering
but that's actually Jamaican ingenuity at its best that's how we train but the
thing that makes me trouble every time I see that picture is the fact that
everything we're doing in that picture is wrong it's completely wrong with the
position of the hands the backs the knees the elbows it's all wrong it's all
wrong but that's what we thought we had learned in that one push session with
the Americans and so that's what we did but here's a bigger life lesson for you
ready you should never you should never ever wait until everything is perfect to
go pursue your dreams it will never be perfect the timing will never be just
right you should never sit around and wait
because if you do you'll be waiting and waiting and waiting you have to start
from where you are with what you have you know I like to tell people you know
you jump off the cliff and learn to fly on your way down you know I've competed
in three Olympic Games or a nation as competed in five or six now and we
started there doing every single thing wrong but that's what we trained three
hours every afternoon during the during the week six hours and Saturday morning
would push that thing back and forth on the army base in Kingston and then we
eventually went to Calgary in mid-october 87 and we went on a bobsled
track for the first time so now we were final about studying because that ain't
bobsledding you know so we spend I don't know six weeks in Calgary went to
Innsbruck Austria and we did one race one race against the B teams from some
of the major nations went home for Christmas when battle occurred spent a
month of January 88 and then we went to the Olympic Games
that's it that is a sum total for bobsled
knowledge and experience leading into Calgary so this is us here in Calgary on
the push track and it may not be obvious to you but man so much more improved so
much more better so much better the thing you have to know about success
is apart from the psychological part right most of what you'll need is skill
based