JOA wants Jamaican ‘heatwave’ at Winter Olympics
Published:Sunday | February 1, 2026 | 12:11 AMGregory Bryce - Staff Reporter
Christopher Samuda, president of the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA), says they are hoping the island can bring the heat to the ice at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games this month.
Jamaica will be represented at the upcoming Winter Games in the men’s alpine skiing competition as well as the women’s mono-bob, two-man bobsled and four-man bobsled races.
Henry Rivers will compete for Jamaica in the men’s alpine skiing competition while Mica Moore will represent the island in the women’s mono-bob.
Shane Pitter, the team’s pilot, and his crew of Joel Fearon, Nimroy Turgott and Junior Harris qualified for the two-man bobsleigh.
Pitter is also the pilot for the four-man bobsleigh team alongside Tyquendo Tracey, Andrae Dacres, Harris, and Fearon.
The 2026 Games will be Jamaica’s 10th appearance at the Winter Games since their debut at the Calgary 1988 Winter Olympic Games, where they competed in the two-man and four-man bobsled.
Jamaica are yet to earn a medal at the Winter Games, with their best performance coming in at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games as Errol Kerr finished ninth in the men’s ski cross event.
Samuda says Jamaica has the opportunity to become the first Caribbean island to capture a medal.
He said the JOA are in full support of the nation’s athletes who continue to strive for global excellence.
“Yet again the call has been answered emphatically and the drive now must be to break the ice and get onto the podium where history will be again created and a new chapter written,” Samuda said.
“Our bobsled team continues to build a legacy and our skier, Henri Rivers, one of triplets who qualified last year, is one of Jamaica’s youthful architects of future successes,” he continued
“We may be on ice, but the goal is to create a heatwave and, in our parlance, it is to become ‘hot pon di ice’. The JOA continues to be inspired by our ambassadors, history makers and trailblazers.”
Moore will be Jamaica’s first competitor on display as she is set to compete in the women’s mono-bob, with the first of four heats set for February 15.
The fourth, and medal-deciding heat of the event, is set for the following day, February 16.
Jamaica will also be involved in the heats of the two-man bobsled on February 16, with Rivers also competing in the men’s slalom alpine skiing event.
Jamaica’s final event, the four-man bobsled, is set to begin on February 21 with the medal-deciding heat set for February 22.