Jamaican bobsled team likely Olympic-bound, if they can afford it

The Jamaican bobsled team is back for the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Well, maybe.

A two-man team of Winston Watts, an Olympic veteran who competed at the 2002 Salt Lake Games, and brakeman Marvin Dixon, appear set to qualify for the 2014 Games. But they don’t have the financial support of the Jamaican Olympic Association, and as a result might not be able to get to Russia for the Games.

The Telegraph has more:

For even though qualification should be safe after a tremendous fifth-place finish at a North American Cup race in Lake Placid last week, the team have no money to fly to St Moritz for this weekend’s final qualifying competition, the event which was to be their “insurance policy”.

“In truth, we still don’t really know at the moment if we’d even have enough funds or sponsorship to fly to Sochi itself for the Games itself,” Watts shrugs. “It all depends. Our families need to be taken care of first. If there’s no funding, who knows?

The top 30 teams in the world qualify for the Sochi Games, and Watts believes he and Dixon will make the cut. Watts has put up his own money to get the team to Wyoming, where they’ve been training, and he hopes the JOA will support them now that they’re all but in the Olympics. But if not.... bake sale, anyone?

h/t CBS Sports

Update: WE DID IT

But although they’ve qualified, their work isn’t done.

You can donate here. We have a funny feeling they’ll hit their $80,000 goal. It’s a good thing Kickstarter didn’t exist when they were making Cool Runnings, because the fundraising montage would’ve been much less interesting.