A greater purpose
Fenlator-Victorian begins monobob competition tonight with memory of late sister in mind
Published:Saturday | February 12, 2022 | 12:07 AMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
When Olympian Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian steps onto the bobsled track in her final Winter Olympics, she will be competing not just for the future of Jamaica’s bobsleigh programme but in memory of her younger sister, Angelica.
Fenlator-Victorian will kick off Jamaica’s participation in the Beijing Winter Olympics tonight as she competes in the first two heats of the women’s monobob starting at 8:30 p.m. Jamaica time at the Yanquing National Sliding Centre. Fenlator-Victorian’s opening round will bring full circle a qualification process that has been challenging but also tragic.
Angelica died tragically last December in the middle of Jazmine’s chase to make her third Olympic team and her second with Jamaica since switching allegiances from the United States in 2016. The loss resulted in her not only taking time away from the campaign but also questioning if she would even compete in Beijing, should they qualify. When the team was officially unveiled on January 18, Fenlator-Victorian said she needed to continue the journey, not just for her sister’s memory but for Jamaica’s continued advancement in the sport.
“I don’t think anyone is prepared to suffer the pain of losing someone. The sacrifices you make to be on that Olympic stage often are so steep with your family and with other parts of life. You give up so much just for that moment, it is literally that moment and it’s not guaranteed, but neither is the rest of your life,” Fenlator-Victorian said. “So, to pay homage to my culture, being on team Jamaica, I owe it to my sister and to my family to keep pressing forward.”
Fenlator-Victorian said that she has been grateful for the support of her teammates as well as national performance director Mark Silva and Jamaica Bobsled and Skeleton Federation president Nelson ‘Chris’ Stokes during her bereavement and while she was contemplating her immediate future. Fenlator-Victorian’s return to the team to be a part of history, with Jamaica competing in three disciplines in bobsled (women’s monobob, two-man and four-man), the most in the programme’s history.
GREATER FOCUS
And, while she continues to navigate through her grief, she says that the greater focus for her final Winter Olympics is the long-term future of the sport in Jamaica, something that she is heavily invested in.
“Every day, I struggle greatly but I also know, in that struggle, there is a bigger impact and bigger purpose for fellow Jamaicans to see all different shades of Jamaicans being represented at these Games across multiple sports have such a larger impact towards the future, and that’s why I wanted to come back to these Games,” Fenlator-Victorian said. “And I can’t allow selfishly the suffering I’m going through to take away from that big picture.”
Fenlator-Victorian finished 17th in her first two training heats and 18th in her previous two heats, which included her fourth training run on Thursday. Her last two training sessions took place last night, wrapping up her preparations for tonight’s start. Heats three and four will take place tomorrow night Jamaica time.