OlympicTalk · Jul 15, 2016
Famous banged-up Jamaican bobsled helmet up for auction
The helmet that may have saved Dudley Stokes‘ life is up for auction.
Stokes was the driver for the famed Jamaican bobsled team at the 1988 Calgary Games. Their journey from a tropical island to a frozen ice chute in Canada inspired the 1993 movie “Cool Runnings.”
Jamaica had never entered a team in the Winter Olympics, and as you may recall, the bobsled team’s debut didn’t end so well. During their second run, they crashed and had to walk across the finish line.
As the driver, Stokes’ head was the only one perched above the sled at the time of the crash, and it got pinned between the sled and the ice. Obviously, skid marks were left on the yellow helmet.