Times of the Islands Summer 2022

On a windy February morning in 1988, the captain
of the first Jamaican bobsled team stood at the top of
the Olympic course in Calgary and stared down the steep
track coated with fresh, fast ice that glared back in the
bright sun. In the stands to either side, he saw a sea
of fluttering colors from national banners and heard the
ardent rattling of cowbells the Swiss and Austrian fans
had brought to cheer their teams. But this time, the flags
waved and the bells rang for the improbable sight of
four black men from a tropical Caribbean island as they
moved their sled to the start line.
The captain went through a mental ritual to filter out
the frenzy around him and shed all negative thoughts.
With his mind clear and focused on the present, he pulled
down his goggles—the physical signal to execute. And
then, as the world watched, the four men sprinted as one,
pushing over 600 lbs. (270 kg) of steel and fiberglass
down the chute and hurling themselves into history, and
our hearts.
Most of us have seen the lovable, hit movie “Cool
Runnings.” But how did these guys from a country with
no snow or ice really make it to the Winter Olympics? And
what did it take to compete in this decidedly dangerous
and, quite frankly, clubby sport?
As it turns out, the actual story is far more compelling
than the film. Let’s start with the little known fact
that the team captain, Dudley “Tal” Stokes, is from Grand
Turk. Yes, the iconic underdog who nimbly steered the
bobsled speeding through 16 treacherous turns against
the best on the planet is also one of us.
The early years
In 1961, newly ordained minister Dudley Stokes and his
wife Blossom Nelson Stokes arrived on Grand Turk from
Jamaica as Baptist missionaries. Tal was born the following
year. Back then, TCI did not have a Baptist minister,
so every couple of weeks, Pastor Dudley would set off in
a canoe with a small outboard motor to visit the scattered
settlements and minister to the faithful. These trips were
often fraught with peril, as sudden squalls could quickly
swamp and sink small boats, particularly when crossing
the Turks & Caicos Channel. Dozens, if not hundreds,
of Turks & Caicos Islanders had lost their lives during
voyages like this. But Pastor Stokes never wavered in his
commitment to reach out to everyone despite the hazards.
Both Dudley and Blossom had big, generous hearts
and a gift for connecting with people.
At the time, the Turks & Caicos Islands and Jamaica
were colonies of Great Britain, but with TCI by far the less
developed and more neglected of the two. The paucity
of medical services during the early 1960s, in particular,
posed a life-threatening risk to residents if they needed
emergency treatment. Pregnant women who developed
complications during childbirth were especially vulnerable.
Blossom witnessed far too many young women and
babies dying during childbirth. When she became pregnant
with Tal’s younger brother, Christian, she took no
chances and had the baby in Jamaica.
Tal enjoyed his early childhood on Grand Turk with
the freedom to explore the beaches and salt ponds. But
blissful as life was, he could also see and internalize the
anguish on his mother’s face when another member of
the community was taken away too early.
The family moved back to Jamaica in 1966 where
Pastor Dudley became a circuit preacher in St. Mary
Parrish near Ocho Rios. Tal attended prep school and
proved to be a bright student and good at sports, particularly
football (soccer). At age 9, however, his younger
brother Chris beat him in a running race on the beach,
making painfully plain who was the better athlete.
When Tal was 15, the coach cut him from the school
football team and he came home distraught. Blossom,
already known for her irrepressible personality, promptly
marched over to the school with pen and paper and
demanded to speak with the coach. But she didn’t ask
him to reconsider his decision. Instead, she returned
home with a list of 16 weaknesses which the coach had
given her and said, “This is why you are not on the team.”
That was another life lesson that Tal took to heart—break
down your flaws and work on them.
At 18, Tal joined the Jamaican Army straight out of
school and went through officer training—first in Jamaica
and then at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the
UK. Later, he was selected for training as a helicopter
pilot and sent to flight school in Manitoba, Canada.
Military life appealed to Tal, as it gave him opportunities
to build technical skills and work with people from
different countries. Both would serve him well when he
became a bobsledder. While in the military, he met and
dated Denise Muir, also a Jamaican Army officer. She was
a crack shot with both rifle and pistol and, like Tal, fit and
bright. On a lark, she decided to become a competitive
body-builder. They would marry in 1985, and she would
become his biggest supporter.
Creating the bobsled team
In July 1987, two American friends, George Fitch and
William Maloney, stopped in one of their favorite bars in
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