At the 2022 Beijing Olympics (February 4-20), three Jamaican teams will be present in the bobsleigh events. Enough to easily dive back into Rasta Rockett, this cult film which was inspired by a true story.
A timeless classic, Jon Turteltaub’s film, released in 1994, is regularly broadcast on television. It tells the story of a team of four Jamaicans who want to participate in the Winter Olympics and win gold there. If all is not true, the film is largely inspired by a true story dating back to the Calgary Olympics in 1988.
That year, Jamaica participated for the very first time in its history in the bobsleigh events (two and four). And if the scriptwriters were inspired by it, they nevertheless took liberties with reality.
First, the protagonists. The four bobsledders are, in the film, sprinters who failed in the Olympic selections for the Summer Games. In real life, the sportsmen (Dudley Stokes, Devon Harris, Michael White and Chris Stokes) were military personnel. The team was led by several coaches and not just one (John Candy). And unlike the film, they never committed any illegal acts.
Other points which differ between the film and the reality, the team was not rejected by the other delegations during the Olympic Games and the plane tickets to go to Canada were paid for thanks to the collection of money by a sale of t-shirts with their effigy (in the film, they resell the car of one of their own).
On the other hand, during the competition, the Jamaican quartet fell well in a bend and finished the descent by pushing the bob to the finish line to the applause of the spectators present. And as in the film, the team could not play the last round and forfeited.