Dudley Stokes
Dudley Stokes 
|
|
| Full name | Dudley Clifford Stokes |
| nation |
 Jamaica
|
| birthday | June 22, 1962 |
| place of birth |
Cockburn Town , Turks and Caicos Islands
|
| size | 183 cm |
| Weight | 89 kg |
| job | Air Force captain |
| Career | |
|---|---|
| discipline | Two, four |
| position | pilot |
| status | resigned |
Dudley Clifford Stokes (born June 22, 1962 in Cockburn Town , Turks and Caicos Islands ) is a former Jamaican bobsledder . He was the pilot of the first Jamaican bobsleigh team .
biography
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 Games in Calgary, Dudley Stokes formed the first Jamaican bobsleigh team as a pilot, Devon Harris , Michael White and Caswell Allen .
Together with the Jamaica Olympic Association , a bobsleigh and racing suits in the Jamaican national colors were procured. Stokes competed in the two-man bobsleigh with his pusher Michael White and finished 30th out of 41 places. This made them 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 Dudley Stokes brother Chris Stokes . Chris was a very good sprinter, but he had never sat in a bob 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 . This time Stokes started in the two-man bobsleigh with his brother and finished 36th behind the bobsleigh "Jamaica 2" by Devon Harris and Richard McIntosh . In the four-man bobsleigh , the team finished 25th out of 31 places.
Two years later at the Winter Games in Lillehammer, he started with Wayne Thomas in the two-man bobsleigh race , but was disqualified by a fall. In the four-man bobsleigh , however, things went better. Together with his brother, Wayne Thomas and Winston Watts , the crew finished 14th out of 30 participating bobsleigh teams.
His last Olympic participation was four years later at the Nagano Games . This time, Stokes only started in the four-man bobsleigh and finished in 21st place.
After retiring, Stokes served as President of the Jamaican Bobsleigh Federation for four years.
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
- Dudley Stokes in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
Individual evidence
- ↑ 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 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Stokes, Dudley |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Stokes, Dudley Clifford (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Jamaican bobsledder |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 22, 1962 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Cockburn Town , Turks and Caicos Islands |