‘Destructive’ Jamaica’s Women’s Bobsleigh Coach Quits After Athletes Tried To Keep Her Away

Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images For IBSF


Imagine training for Olympic event for years. Actually it doesn’t have to be an Olympic event, imagine training for anything for years. Making difficult sacrifices over and over for an opportunity at a success that is never guaranteed. Diet changes. Lifestyle changes. Relationship strains. The whole nine. And then when the time comes, someone pulls the bobsleigh beneath you by a crazy lady.

Well that’s essentially what happened with the women’s Jamaican bobsleigh team a few days before the start of their competition.

Sandra Kiriasis, Jamaica’s coach and ex-Olympic champion from Germany, has quit after refusing to change roles from driving coach to track performance analyst, which would have given her no access to the athletes, BBC reports.

“I have never known such disappointment in this sport in my life,” the 2006 Olympic champion said.

Following her departure, Jamaica Bobsleigh released the below statement:

“We are deeply disappointed in her decision to leave the program. We thank her for her invaluable contribution to JBSF and contributing to the success of Jamaica’s first female bobsled Olympic appearance.”

Directly after, a harsher statement was released by JBSF president, Christian Stokes. He told Reuters:

The lady was a hugely destructive force on the team. Now that she is off the team synergy is much better, tension is down and athletes are now able to focus in a much healthier environment.

“We have our high performance director, Jo Manning, and coach, Dudley Stokes, who have been with the team all season and who have been the ones driving performance, so frankly, things have only improved with her departure.

“If you come on the team you have to be a team player. There are no gods and goddesses here.”

To make this situation even stickier, Kiriasis claims she owns the Jamaican sled and wants payment for it, which is still being disputed by Jamaican Bobsleigh and the Skeleton Federation.

The team is due to start official training on Saturday before their heats on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I have never wanted any team to win so badly. This lady sounds like the devil.

[h/t BBC reports]

 

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Matt’s love of writing was born during a sixth grade assembly when it was announced that his essay titled “Why Drugs Are Bad” had taken first prize in D.A.R.E.’s grade-wide contest. The anti-drug people gave him a $50 savings bond for his brave contribution to crime-fighting, and upon the bond’s maturity 10 years later, he used it to buy his very first bag of marijuana.