Jamaican Bobsled Team Is Back, and It Needs to Raise a Lot of Money

The team is trying to raise funds to hire a full-time coach for 2018

What to Know

  • The Jamaican bobsled team is trying to raise $60,000 on GoFundMe to hire a head coach
  • The team's best hope for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics is former U.S. athlete Jazmine Fenlator
  • The original 1988 Jamaican bobsled team was immortalized in the film "Cool Runnings"

The Jamaican bobsled team is back for the Olympics. A little strapped for cash, sure, but back nonetheless.

The climatologically challenged team is attempting to crowdfund a salary for a head coach for the next Olympic games in 2018 in PyeongChang, according to a GoFundMe page posted by the team's social media director.

(Correct - the team does not have a coach but does have someone to run its social presence. Kathleen Pulito, a volunteer from upstate New York, reports to Devon Harris, a member of the original team portrayed in the movie "Cool Runnings.")

"We have a really good shot at our women's team bringing home some hardware to Jamaica," Pulito told NBC 4 New York. "People don't quite see value in our brand just yet."

The perennial underdogs' biggest hope is Jazmine Fenlator, who competed for the United States in the 2014 Games before switching to her father's home country. 

Even so, the crowdfunding campaign is off to a slow start, having raised $1,100 of a $60,000 goal. But Pulito said her goal is to get a brand or two interested in the underdog story and go from there.

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"Once one good sponsor hops on board, they kind of all jump on board," she said.

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