Jamaica makes it to Russian Winter Olympics

I’m surprised by the lack of coverage from North West London’s local media about the Jamaican bobsleigh team who have qualified for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia.

According to data from the Office of National Statistics, 16% of the borough of Brent’s 311,000 residents are black or black British. That’s 50,000 residents, many of which are Caribbean diaspora, whom this news is relevant to. So, if you don’t know, let me bring you up to speed with the rest of the world in what’s being dubbed Cool Runnings 2.

Team-Jamaica broke the headlines when Jamaica’s 2 man team qualified for Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

An iconic top-down photo of the 2 man team piloting a ‘Jamaica’ branded bobsled accompanies the tweet. Caption reads: ‘Jamaica we have a – going to Sochi Winter Olympics. Congratulations guys!’

Taking social media by storm, the virality of the tweet validates how much world wide support this campaign has received, currently 9,350 retweets.

Crowd funded

Although Jamaica have qualified, there was another widely reported surprise which has unfolded into more frenzied social media coverage. There was a chance the Jamaican bobsleigh team may not compete because they were ‘broke’.

Thanks to the wonders of crowd-funding, a number of online campaigns quickly snowballed, surpassing the team’s $80k funding target. Crowd-funding platforms Indiegogo raised $48k and Crowd-Tilt who partnered with alternative currency Doge Coin, together raised a combined amount of $129k.

Jamaican Olympics Authority

The Jamaican Olympics Authority however, were quiet during the immense buzz. Having only confirmed 3 days after the team qualified that they will cover the expenses. The Jamaican community took to Twitter expressing frustration at lack of government support.

Recommend Jamaica Qualifying for Russian Winter Olympics to your friends.

David Goodwin has been blogging since 2010 and is the author of Blog on the Block where he covers civic & social topics. Goodwin hosts the podcast, Pod on the Block. He is the founder and company director of user experience consultancy Uxfam Ltd.

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