Sports

Jamaican Bobsled Team joins IOC’s solidarity series at the UOP

Michele Roepke

by Michele Roepke
Published:

The Jamaican Bobsled Team is sliding bobsleds at the Utah Olympic Park.

The Jamaican Bobsled Team is sliding bobsleds at the Utah Olympic Park. Photo: TownLift // Roepke

PARK CITY, Utah — The Utah Olympic Park is hosting a week of bobsled and skeleton training for “smaller nations” within the International Olympic Committee’s “Olympic Solidarity” and “Universality Places” policies and procedures.

The teams in town include Jamaica, Brazil, Israel, Ghana, South Africa, Spain, Tunisia, India, Taipei, Japan, Latvia, and Thailand (seen photographed below).

Team Thailand is at Utah Olympic Park.
Team Thailand is at Utah Olympic Park. Photo: TownLift // Roepke
 
 
Pat Brown, a retired athlete from USA Bobsled who lives in Park City, has coached the Jamaican Bobsled Team off and on since the 1980s. He told TownLift, “It’s awesome to be back at the Park City track, and we thank the IBSF for creating this ice-time. Our team is right on track for a great Games in 2034. We have two highly talented pilots in Donna Johnson and Shane Pitter. It’s all part of the development process. It takes 10 years to become a world champion or an Olympic champion in our sport. In this winter’s 2026 Games, we are aiming to place in the top 12 for push starts.”
 
When asked about the health and well-being of his athletes and their families and community back home on the island after last month’s  catastrophic hurricane, Brown said, “Most of the bobsled sliders are from the lesser-affected Kingston area of Jamaica, and while they are assisting closely with the very real needs of Jamaicans they know, and those don’t necessarily know personally, it’s been communicated to these athletes from people in their hometowns that the very best way to help is to continue around the world on their elite athletic journey.” He concluded by explaining, “They feel a true sense of pride being able to represent their country’s collective will and strength.” 

Universality places are guaranteed spots in the Olympic Games for athletes from nations that traditionally send small delegations or have very few qualified athletes in specific sports. These places are allocated by the Olympic Games Tripartite Commission (comprised of the IOC, the Association of National Olympic Committees, and International Sports Federations) to increase the broad range of participating nations across the sports program.

Olympic Solidarity Programs provides substantial financial and logistical assistance to all NOCs, with a specific emphasis on those most in need. Programs include athlete development with support for identifying, training, and preparing young athletes for major competitions, including the Youth Olympic Games. 

Pre-Games Training Camps like this one also provide subsidies and organizational support to help athletes acclimate to the host country, train at peak physical condition, and bond with other athletes. For example, for the Paris 2024 Games, multi-sport camps were organized to assist smaller NOCs with logistics and finances.

Additionally, programs also focus on the training of coaches and sports administrators to help build sustainable national sports structures.

The underlying philosophical principle of these initiatives is the Olympic value of “universality” and ensuring all eligible athletes, regardless of their nation’s size or resources, have the opportunity to participate and compete peacefully and on an equal footing. 

In essence, the IOC’s approach is to provide targeted assistance and guaranteed participation pathways to overcome the financial and logistical barriers that might otherwise prevent athletes from smaller or less-resourced nations from fully participating in the Olympic Movement. 

This sliding session is one of a few unique ones that get scheduled in this early season for the Track. 

In order to be considered to qualify to compete at an Olympics, these teams are required to safely and successfully slide at a pre-determined number of similar training sessions in a certain number of tracks in a known number of nations leading up to the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympic Games.

Michele Roepke

I've lived in Park City for 30 years but right off the starting line, my journalism professors expressed plaudits after class for writing more so about the small-town sports in the surrounding mountains than the urban updates they assigned. Therefore, I’m on par punning and penning Parkites' pastimes. Turning high and early through my career, I’ve worked communications for The Olympics, the Paralympics and the Special Olympics. Additionally, there's been National Geographic, Patagonia, NCAA, USA Nordic and the United States Library of Congress, so I guess you could say this ain't my first rodeo.

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