An epilogue explains the team would return home as heroes, then return to the Winter Olympics four years later to participate as equals. Determined to finish the race, the team pick up their bobsled and carry it across the finish line, earning the applause of the other teams and the spectators, including Junior's father, despite their loss. During their final race, one of the bobsled’s blades detaches, causing it to flip over and crash. They drastically improve on the second day, finishing in eighth place. Sanka disapproves of how Derice is copying the Swiss team’s methods, and encourages the team to 'bobsled Jamaican'. The team’s first day on the track is a disaster, finishing in last place. On the night the Olympics formally open, Junior’s father arrives to retrieve his son, but Junior stand up to his father, and refuses to go home until after the Olympics. That night, the team are informed that they have been reinstated. Blitzer confronts Kurt Hemphill, his former coach, now a judge in the committee, asking him not to punish the Jamaicans, as they had nothing to do with his cheating scandal. Derice reprimands them severely.Īfter weeks of training, the team successfully qualifies for the finals, only to be disqualified by the Olympic committee, as retribution for Blitzer’s prior cheating scandal. Eventually, all the members of the team except Derice get into a bar fight with the East Germans. The East German team, and their captain, Josef Groole- the current bobsled world record holder- constantly heckle the team during try-outs. Derice begins to copy the techniques of the very efficient East German team (referred to as the Swiss team in the movie, but wearing the East German logo on their uniforms). The Jamaicans struggle to drive the bobsled and adapt to the cold, though exercise and hard work eventually pays off. In Calgary, Blitzer registers the team, receiving an old bobsled from his former teammate Roger. In the end, Junior sells his car to finance the trip. Yul Brenner holds arm-wrestling contests, and Derice even sets up a kissing booth- these ventures meet with moderate success, but they still haven't anywhere near enough money. The team are forced to find other ways to earn the money- Sanker tries his hand at busking, with no success. Derice's attempts to find another sponsor fail miserably. The team train with Blitzer, though Coolidge refuses to fund the $20,000 needed to participate in the Olympics, believing the team's inexperience will bring shame to Jamaica. Junior, like Derice, can't wait another four years to enter the Olympics, and Yul Brenner just wants to get off the island. Fortunately, Junior Bevil and Yul Brenner arrive late to the meeting, making the required four-man team. Blitzer shows a film about bobsledding on a slide projector, but is heckled, and when the lights come on, only Derice and Sanker are still present. Derice realizes he could participate in the 1988 Winter Olympics by forming a bobsled team, recruiting his friend Sanka Coffie, a pushcart derby champion.ĭerice and Sanker track down Blitzer, who at first refuses to help Derice, until learning he is Ben Bannock’s son. Coolidge identifies the man as disgraced American bobsled medallist Irving Blitzer, who was disqualified for cheating in the 1972 Winter Olympics, and now works as a bookie, fortunately not far from where Derice lives. Derice spots a photograph in Coolidge’s office, featuring his late father Ben, standing next to a fellow Olympic gold medal winner. He invites Derice to try again in four years' time, or to try out for one of the only two other sports Jamaica competes in boxing and cycling. He fails to qualify when fellow runner Junior Bevil accidentally stumbles, not only falling over himself, but knocking down Derice, and another competitor named Yul Brenner.ĭerice petitions for a re-heat, but committee leader Barrington Coolidge, though he pities Derice, refuses. In November 1987, Jamaican sprinter Derice Bannock trains to qualify for the 100 metres in the 1988 Summer Olympics.
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