Devon Harris
Devon Harris 
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| nation |
 Jamaica
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| birthday | December 25, 1964 |
| size | 178 cm |
| Weight | 97 kg |
| job | lieutenant |
| Career | |
|---|---|
| discipline | Two, four |
| position | Pusher |
| status | resigned |
Devon Harris (born December 25, 1964 ) is a former Jamaican bobsleigh driver who was a member of the first Jamaican bobsleigh team.
biography
Devon Harris grew up in a ghetto in Olympic Gardens, a district of the Jamaican capital Kingston . He was an avid soccer player and athlete who dreamed of representing Jamaica at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles .
When the two American businessmen William Maloney and George Fitch, who were in Jamaica on business, saw the resemblance to bobsleigh at a soapbox race , they had the idea of establishing a Jamaican bobsleigh team and sending it to the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary . Since a quick start is an important part of bobsleigh, the two sprinters of the summer games wanted to recruit for the team. However, met with rejection, they turned to the military . In October 1987, just under 5 months before the Calgary Games, Devon Harris, Dudley Stokes , Michael White and Caswell Allen formed the first Jamaican bobsleigh team.
Together with the Jamaica Olympic Association , a bobsleigh and racing suits in the Jamaican national colors were procured. After Dudley Stokes and Michael White had already finished 30th out of 41 places in the two-man bobsleigh , they were the first two Jamaicans in history to take part in the Winter Olympics.
Since Caswell Allen in Calgary enjoyed the nightlife more than to concentrate on the competition, this was excluded from the team and replaced by Chris Stokes . Chris Stokes, Dudley Stokes' brother, was a very good sprinter, but he had never sat in a bobsleigh before. The team finished 24th out of 26th places after the first run. After a fall in the last of the four races, however, the race was over for the four who had won a lot of sympathy. Despite their fall, the crew pushed their bobsleigh to the finish and embodied the motto: "Being there is everything".
At the 1992 Winter Olympics , two Jamaican teams competed in the two-man bobsleigh for the first time . Harris, who only started in two, together with Richard McIntosh in the bob "Jamaica 2" finished 35th ahead of the two Stokes brothers.
His last Olympic participation was four years later at the Nagano Games . As four years earlier, Harris only competed in the two-man bobsleigh race . Together with Michael Morgan , he finished 29th.
After retiring, Harris became a motivational speaker and founded the Keep On Pushing Foundation in 2006 , which supports children from disadvantaged areas.
During the 2018 Winter Olympics , Harris was named Olympian For Life by the World Olympians Association .
Fonts
- Yes I Can Waterhouse Publishing, 2006, ISBN 978-0976408246 (children's book)
Trivia
In 1993 Disney produced a successful feature film entitled Cool Runnings about participating in the 1988 Olympics, which has a fictional story about the first appearance of a Jamaican bobsleigh team at the Olympic Games.
Web links
- Devon Harris in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
Individual evidence
- ^ Devon Harris Speaker & Booking Information. Retrieved April 7, 2020 .
- ↑ Volker Kreisl: Exotics on a serious bobsleigh mission. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . February 4, 2018, accessed April 7, 2020 .
- ↑ a b c Clemens Blaim: Olympia Special - Inspirational Personalities: The Legend of "Cool Runnings". Retrieved April 7, 2020 .
- ↑ Legacy. Retrieved April 8, 2020 .
- ^ WOA honors Olympians for Life inductees. February 17, 2018, accessed April 7, 2020 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Harris, Devon |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Jamaican bobsledder |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 25, 1964 |