3 Reasons Cool Runnings Is Mostly Made Up (And Why It Doesn't Matter)

2. The Team

The gathering of the team members themselves is something which was fairly similar, albeit under completely different circumstances. The team did indeed include a former Olympic hopeful, Devon Harris, who was also distinguished runner; he set his sights on the 800m and 1500m at the '84 Summer Olympics in LA, but unfortunately failed to qualify. Like his team mates he responded to an advertisement seeking to find those willing to "undergo rigorous and dangerous training", and thanks to his running background achieved the fastest push start time. In another big use of artistic license however, the advert was printed in the Jamaican Defence Force publication Force Orders, and several of Harris' team-mates, Dudley Stokes, Michael White, and Casewell Allen, were also servicemen. The team's lack of training before the Olympics is also something the writers failed, or chose not, to include. As mentioned before Push Kart derby's were an important factor in the idea of a team, but in between their establishment and Calgary, the Jamaican bobsledders gained experience sledding in the States, and even took part in Austria's Tirol Cup. By the time they were competing in the Olympics they were still the new guys, but only one member was not quite as experienced as Disney would have us believe they all were. While many spend years dreaming of representing their country in the Olympics, Chris Stokes, the brother of Dudley, had less than a weeks training when he became a last minute replacement for an injured Caswell. Not bad for someone who only went to Calgary to spectate. The fact that Dudley Stokes and Michael White also competed in the two-man event, eventually coming 30th of 41 teams, is yet another element of Jamaica's journey that was completely omitted in favour of a more unified story.