[Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce] burst on to the scene as a fresh-faced youngster in 2008, winning the local national trials before going on to shock the nation and the crown by claiming the title at the Beijing Olympic Games. Fraser-Pryce clocked an impressive 10.78 seconds to lead a Jamaican sweep of the event finishing ahead of compatriots Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart.
Where did the team get the idea in their heads to enter the sport? According to Wikipedia.com, it was "George Fitch and William Maloney, Americans with family and business ties to Jamaica, who were responsible for founding the Jamaican bobsled team. While vacationing in Jamaica, the two witnessed a pushcart derby race and saw the similarities to bobsledding." The story of the Jamaican bobsledders not only inspired future entries of the Jamaican bobsled team (in 1992, 1994, 2000, 2006 and 2010) but it also sparked the filming of a major Disney motion picture called "Cool Runnings". Even though the Jamaican bobsled team did not qualify, Caribbean people must never forget the pioneers who dared to mink outside of the box.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
302 p, Illuminates the profound role sports play in the political and cultural processes of an identity that developed within a political tradition of autonomy rather than traditional political independence. Significantly, it was precisely in the Olympic arena that Puerto Ricans found ways to participate and show their national pride, often by using familiar colonial strictures--and the United States' claim to democratic values--to their advantage. Drawing on extensive archival research, both on the island and in the United States, Sotomayor uncovers a story of a people struggling to escape the colonial periphery through sport and nationhood yet balancing the benefits and restraints of that same colonial status.
