Winter Olympics 2014 diary: Not-so-cool runnings from Jamaica tourist board

 

All eyes have been on the Jamaica two-man bobsleigh team over the past two days as Winston Watts and Marvin Dixon have tried to emulate their predecessors, whose story was told in the film Cool Runnings.

Anyway, to  help the pair along, a song has been released by  the country’s tourism agency, somewhat imaginatively titled The Bobsled Song and boasting such ear‑catching lyrics as “ last turn, keep your head down/I see the finish line/Jamaica rock the whole town”. The video’s worth watching if only for the old‑s chool computer game-style graphics.

Pickering bathes in glory

Sticking with the two-man bob, Craig Pickering may have been forced to sit out the event, which began yesterday. But the British sprinter, who switched to the Winter Olympics before being forced out of the Games with a back injury, tweeted that he “took every corner with those boys then!” in reference to the British pairing of John Baines and Lamin Deen. The tweet was complete with a picture of Pickering (right) sitting in the bath in his full GB bobsleigh gear.

The French star who went to school with Gareth Bale

There was something decidedly un‑Gallic about one half of the French ice dance pair in Sochi yesterday. While Pernelle Carron has a distinctly passable French name, her partner Lloyd Jones  does not. Anyway, Jones has been skating since the age of nine and went to school with the Real Madrid and Wales star Gareth Bale, as well as Wales rugby captain Sam Warburton. The 25-year-old from Cardiff qualifies for France having lived in Lyon so long that he gained French citizenship in October.

So much for him to bear

Being dressed as an enormous polar bear has its problems, as the person inside one of the Sochi 2014 mascots has found out. The bear in question was being driven from one event to the next — such are the demands on a large white cuddly mascot. However, the car was just not big enough for the bear to make it into the front seat.

A few attempts failed, a polar bear strop followed and then the mascot slipped into the back seat. The whole debacle was caught on camera complete with some sarcastic cheering and clapping at the end.

Eva’s moustache magic

As pre-race rituals go, Czech Republic snowboard cross competitor Eva Samkova must surely take the biscuit for the most surreal. Hers involved having a moustache painted on her upper lip before her competition in the colours of her nation’s flag — red, white and blue. But who are we to criticise? After all, Samkova completely dominated the event and raced away with the gold medal. Afterwards, she paid tribute to her “lucky moustache.”

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