Overview

At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, the Jamaican bobsled captain, Dudley Tal Stokes, lost control of the four-man sled he was driving and crashed violently while millions watched around the world. As skulls slammed the ice for twenty-one perilous seconds before the sled came to a stop, a calming clarity settled over him. Instead of walking away from the sport glad to be alive, Tal internalized the experience and committed himself to becoming a world-class bobsledder, whatever it took. Disney later released the hit comedy film, Cool Runnings, loosely based on the original team's inspiring effort even if they didn't stand a chance. The true story of how Tal and the real bobsledders clawed their way back from a near-death experience in Calgary unveils an astounding perseverance in the face of failure, chronic lack of money, and constant doubt. Against all odds, Tal and the Jamaicans took on the highly experienced European and North American bobsledders at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer and claimed their place among the elite. This is the tale of that journey from rock bottom ""crash dummies"" to fearsome contenders that stands as an enduring testament to the human spirit.

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In 2011, Ben Stubenberg left his government job as a defense analyst in Washington, D.C. and moved to the Turks and Caicos Islands. The move had been a long time coming--almost a half century since he had lived on St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands in the mid-1970s, where he taught high school English and wrote for the local newspaper. As a private pilot back then, Ben took the opportunity to visit just about every island in the West Indies and later spent months living in Martinique and Haiti. The Caribbean seeped easily into his veins. As a feature writer for the Turks and Caicos magazine, Times of the Islands, Ben delves deeply into the region's rich and alluring past and chronicles today's unfolding developments and remarkable personalities that are shaping the future. Ben's connection with the Caribbean comes as no surprise. He grew up in vastly different multi-cultural environments, from Honolulu, Hawaii, where he was born, to Oslo, Norway, to Stockton, California, and learned to move easily between different peoples and landscapes--often as an outsider looking in, sometimes as an insider given access to tell a story. The Jamaican Bobsled Captain: Dudley ""Tal"" Stokes and the untold story of struggle, suffering and redemption behind Cool Runnings is Ben's first book. He can be reached through his website BenStubenberg.com

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