Bobsledders out of self-quarantine
Published:Friday | April 3, 2020 | 12:00 AMAkino Ming/Staff Reporter
JAMAICA BOBSLEIGH and Skeleton Federation President Chris Stokes said that the winter sports athletes who returned to the island two weeks ago have completed their self-quarantine.
Carrie Russell, Audra Segree and others were forced to cut short their preparation in Lake Placid, New York, for qualification to the 2022 Winter Olympics as the state became one of the epicentres of the coronavirus outbreak.
“We decided for them to come home because of the big issue with the virus in New York,” Stokes said. “They have finished self-quarantining now,” Stokes said. “As a federation, we put that in place because some of them were coming in and saying that nobody at the airport were telling them that they had to self-quarantine, so we put them in quarantine and provided the guidance as to how you go about quarantining. We had put that in place before it was made official here.”
The group spent three months in Lake Placid sharpening their skills for the season that has now been cancelled.
RACE CANCELLATIONS
“They had cancelled the season and the last race, so it made sense for us to come home at the time. We had a really good time in New York, had three months of good training there. We were looking forward to the race at the end of the season to test where we were on a competitive basis. But right now, the attention of mankind has shifted to taking care of our neighbours and ourselves,” Stokes said.
The federation has been thrusted back in the spotlight after Carrie Russell, Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian and reserve Audra Segree became the first women to qualify and take part in the winter Olympic Games two years ago.