By Paul Osborne

The Jamaican team has secured a spot in the Olympics for the first time in 12 years ©Getty ImagesJanuary 20 - The Jamaican bobsleigh team will be making their way to the Sochi Winter Olympics next month after funding issues were resolved by the Jamaican Olympic Organisation (JOA) on Monday.


The team, which will be piloted by 46-year-old Winston Watts with Marvin Dixon as brakeman, were unsure whether they would able to travel to Sochi to compete in the Games due to a lack of funds, however, this issue was largely alleviated with the news that JOA and the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee would cover the cost of travel.

It is the first time in 12 years that the Jamaican team has qualified for the bobsleigh event having competed in the 2002 Salt Lake City Games - with Watts part of that team.

Watts has said that he and the team will still be doing some additional fundraising in order to purchase equipment such as additional sled runners as teams generally have a host of different options available go choose from depending on track conditions.

The Jamaican bobsleigh team became famous after its efforts in the 1988 Winter Olympics with Disney film "Cool Runnings" becoming an instant classic for its depiction of one the most famous underdog stories ever at a Winter Games ©Getty ImagesThe Jamaican bobsleigh team became famous after its efforts in the 1988 Winter Olympics with Disney film "Cool Runnings" becoming an instant classic for its depiction of one the most famous underdog stories ever at a Winter Games ©Getty Images



The Jamaican bobsleigh team gained international fame when they qualified for Calgary 1988 with a team of four men who had very little experience in the sport.

This fame was boosted dramatically with the release of the 1993 Disney film "Cool Runnings", loosely based on the team's Olympic journey.

The team then qualified for the 1994, 1998 and 2002 Olympics with Watts making the team in each instance but missed out on a place in both the 2006 and 2010 Winter Games.

The Jamaican team will be joined by some of the world's top bobsleigh nations with the announcements of teams starting to steadily flow into the public limelight.

The United States today revealed the six drivers and nine push athletes that will represent the country as they push for medals in both the women's and men's bobsleigh events.

The American teams will be one of the favourites in terms of medals at the Games with the likes of 2010 Olympic champion Steven Holocomb at the helm ©Getty ImagesThe American teams will be one of the favourites in terms of medals at the Games with the likes of 2010 Olympic champion Steven Holocomb at the helm ©Getty Images



The American team have qualified three men's and women's two-bob sleds whilst the men also have two entries in the four-man event.

Current world number two Jamie Greubel, 2013 World Championship silver medallist Elana Meyers and Jazmine Fenlator will pilot the women's sleds whilst Aja Evans, Lauryn Williams and Lolo Jones have been nominated as the women's push athletes.

Williams was Olympic silver medallist in the 100 metres at Athens 2004 and a member of the US 4x100m relay team that won gold at London 2012.

Jones, meanwhile, is a double world indoor 60m hurdles champion. 

On the men's side, reigning Olympic champion and two-time world champion Steven Holocomb will pilot one of the two four-man sleds, with Nick Cunningham selected as the driver of the other.

The two-man sleds will be manned by Holocomb, Cunningham and Cory Butner.

Holcomb and his seasoned push crew of Curtis Tomasevicz, Steven Langton and Chris Fogthave been officially named as USA-1.

Justin Olsen, Johnny Quinn and Dallas Robinson have been selected to push Cunningham's four-man sled.

The two-man bobsled brakeman will be selected from the pool of six push athletes named to the four-man squads.

Lamin Deen booked a spot in both the men's two-man and four-man bob events following a successful day at the Igls World Cup ©Getty ImagesLamin Deen booked a spot in both the men's two-man and four-man bob events following a successful day at the Igls World Cup ©Getty Images



Meanwhile, Great Britain managed to secure themselves two sleds in the four-man bob event, and one apiece in both the men's and women's two-bob event following success at the Igls World Cup.

During the event, with lead pilot John Jackson's Olympic place already secured, his usual crew switched sleds to boost Lamin Deen's prospects and help secure a second Olympic berth for the British team.

The ploy paid off and, with the help of Stuart Benson, Bruce Tasker and Joel Fearon, the GBR-2 sled crossed the line in 11th position, enough to secure the team a place in next month's Olympic Games.

The result also secured a place in the two-man event for Deen following worries that GB would not secure a berth for the event after Jackson failed to qualify for the event alongside brakeman Joel Fearon in the final qualification event on Saturday.

In the women's two-man competition, pilot Paula Walker and new brakeman Sarah Adams secured GB a berth in the event in Sochi after finishing 14th in their first World Cup together

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