TEAM TTO will break a 20-year barren spell at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing when they are represented by a three-man bobsleigh team at the February 4-20 Games.

Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTIC) president Brian Lewis informed that the TTOC had received final confirmation from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and had signed off to accept TTO’s quota allocation for the Games.

The team will be led by pilot and UK-based Axel Brown, a former bobsledder for Great Britain with Trini parentage; track sprinter Andre Marcano, who will fill the role as brakeman; and former Olympic hurdler Mikel Thomas, who will be the alternate.

Lewis said the bobsleigh team, through “sincere and authentic commitment”, had met all the criteria to attend the Games and the TTOC was satisfied with the rejuvenated Trinidad and Tobago Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation’s (TTBSF) “fair, transparent and objective” selection criteria.

Lewis paid tribute to the original TTBSF official, Gregory Sun, who established the local federation in 1992 and whom he said built the foundation for team TTO.

Sun competed in three Winter Olympics, in the men’s bobsleigh, the last occasion being the 2002 edition in Salt Lake City, Utah, when he combined with Errol Aguillera. In the previous two Winter Games at Lillehammer, Norway, in 1994 and Nagano, Japan, in 1998, Sun teamed up with Curtis Harry.

Forward to the current Team TTO squad, Lewis commended Brown for his willingness to collaborate with the TTOC and be guided by the Team TTO’s chef de mission for the Games, Lovie Santana, and the team’s Covid-19 Liaison Officer (CLO) Rheeza Grant, who will also be accompanying the team to Beijing. The pair served in those same roles for TTO’s Olympic delegation at last year’s Tokyo2020 Summer Games.

Lewis said the TTOC encourages participation at both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games events, with TTO nordic skiers Mark Rajack and Nicholas Young failing to qualify as at the January 16 deadline. The TTOC also sent alpine skier Abigail Vieira to the Youth Winter Olympics in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2020.

He said the TTOC is looking to not only the current Beijing Games but the 2026 Milan, Cortina Winter Olympic Games, in Italy to continue the development of the TTO bobsleigh programme.

Lewis said China’s President Xi Jinping has given the assurance that the country will endeavour – through strict adherence to Covid-19 countermeasures and protocols – to ensure the safety and health of all participants and their citizens. With a spike in cases in recent weeks, the Chinese government and their local organising committee have announced the Beijing Games will be closed to fans both local and foreign.

As for expectations for the team, Lewis said: “We ask of you that you simply do your best. Represent the red, white and black, represent with pride and dignity but with respect for the rules.”

As is the TTOC’s tradition, chef Santana in consultation with Team TTO members will select the flag-bearer for the February 4 opening ceremony at the Bird’s Nest, closer to that date.

For his part, Brown, who has been in camp with his teammates based in Calgary, Canada, working on their pushing technique since before Christmas, was enthusiastic about donning the colours of his mom’s country of birth.

“From the start of this, realistically I could have qualified for Great Britain or T&T,” he said “…It means the world to me and the welcoming has been so warm. I got into sport to fulfil my own personal dream but it has been shown to be so much more than that.”

Brown continued: “Of course, I am proud to have done it for me but also I am proud for the people that we are representing, which obviously is our job as a national team, it is to represent the people of the country… it to me is that much more fulfilling because of the people we are representing and seeing their warm smile and faces.”

During the qualification process dating back to last August, the John brothers, Shomari and Shakeel, and coach Tom Harris, who is collaborating with the TTOC through the TTBSF, assisted greatly in Team TTO making the cut-off for Beijing