Olympics 2018: Red Stripe beer is offering to buy Jamaica's bobsled team a new ride
This comes after the Jamaican Bobsled Federation's coach quit and threatened to keep the team's sled
If the former driver coach for Jamaican Bobsled Federation is serious about keeping the team's 2018 Winter Olympics sled for herself, someone is offering to help out and buy the bobsledders a new one.
That someone is a beer company.
Red Stripe USA, a pale lager fittingly brewed in Jamaica, said on Thursday that if Sandra Kiriasis, who stepped down as the team's coach this week, refuses to relinquish ownership of the Olympic club's sled, it will happily pick up the tab.
No bobsled, no problem. If you need a new ride @Jambobsled, put it on @RedStripe’s tab. DM us and we’ll be in touch 👌🍻
— Red Stripe USA (@RedStripeUSA) February 15, 2018
Some estimates suggest an Olympic bobsled can cost something around $50,000, so that equates to, well, a lot of Red Stripe.
But if it means Jamaica can actually compete in Pyeongchang, maybe it's worth it.
As reported Wednesday, Kiriasis departed the team, which is set to make its Olympic debut 30 years after the country's men's bobsled team inspired "Cool Runnings," amid no shortage of controversy:
Kiriasis was reportedly asked to transition from driver coach to "performance analyst," a role that would not have required direct access to Jamaica's Olympic athletes, and then stepped down as a result. Saying she's "never known such disappointment in this sport in my life," per BBC, she also suggested that her bobsledders "don't understand why this has happened" because of their "good relationship" with her.
Kiriasis has also claimed legal ownership of the team's sled, requesting compensation for its use despite statements by the Jamaican Bobsled Federation (JBF) to the contrary.
















