Shanwayne Stephens
Shanwayne Stephens and Nimroy Turgott use the car for resistance training
Members of the Jamaican bobsleigh team have been pushing a car around an industrial estate as they have been unable to access training facilities during the coronavirus lockdown.
Shanwayne Stephens and Nimroy Turgott have been in isolation in Peterborough.
They have built a gym in the garden but use a Mini Cooper for resistance training, as the Sun first reported.
The pair, who have represented Jamaica since 2017 are training for events including the Winter Olym.
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Mr Stephens, 29, a gunner with the RAF Regiment and part of the force’s elite athlete scheme, moved to the UK from Jamaica when he was 11.
Mr Turgott, 27, who lives in Jamaica, had come to the UK after the pair competed in bobsleigh and skeleton world cup in Austria in January, but when the country went into lockdown he went into isolation with his teammate at his Peterborough home.
Shanwayne Stephens
The teammates are hoping for a medal in the next Winter Olym
“Obviously we’ve had to create new ways to get our training done,” Mr Stephens told the BBC.
In scenes reminiscent of the film Cool Runnings – inspired by the story of Jamaica’s first ever bobsleigh team training against all odds for a place in the 1988 Winter Olym – the pair are using whatever they have to hand to keep fit.
“I loved that movie as a child and it taught me never to give up on my dreams,” Mr Stephens said.
“We normally have resistance training where we push sleds, but we’ve not had access to sleds, so we thought why don’t we just go out and push the car around for a bit,” he said.
The pair have also constructed a mini gym in the back garden.
“The next Winter Olym are in Beijing in 2022 but prior to that we’ll be competing again in North America and hopefully in Europe – and we also have the world championships in February next year in Lake Placid,” he said.
Asked whether he thought the Jamaican team had a chance of a medal in the next Olym, Mr Stephens said: “Everyone has the opportunity to win a medal – it’s all about working hard and believing you can win that medal.”
