Film / Cool Runnings

One dream. Four Jamaicans. Twenty below zero.

Feel the rhythm!
Feel the rhyme!
Get on up, it's bobsled time!
COOL RUNNINGS!

Cool Runnings is a 1993 sports comedy film directed by Jon Turteltaub and produced by Walt Disney Pictures.

In Jamaica in 1988, Derice Bannock (Leon Robinson) is a sprinter and wants to compete in the Olympic Games in athletics, hoping to live up to the legacy of his gold-winning father Ben. However, his competitor, Junior Bevil (Rawle D. Lewis), trips and brings him down along with Yul Brenner (Malik Yoba) during the qualifying sprint race. The officials refuse to rerun the race, dashing the hopes of Derice and other competitors. Derice then has the idea to compete... at the Winter Olympics, in bobsledding.

Derice first convinces his friend Sanka Coffie (Doug E. Doug) to join him, then he finds Irving Blitzer (John Candy), a surly former bobsledder himself and old friend of his father, who reluctantly agrees to coach him and his team. Irv tries to get out of it by showing a film reel of nothing but sled crashes to a crowd of potential teammates, but all this does is bring Junior and Yul to the team. The rest of the film is about working to overcome their lack of experience, the opposition of the Olympic Committee, the jeering and disbelief of the other teams, the internal struggles within the team, and the winter weather of Canada.

The film, which is very loosely based on the real story of the first Jamaican bobsleigh team, has some goofy farce and some dramatic moments, though it might lean a bit too much toward the former to qualify as a Dramedy.

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This film provides examples of:

• The Ace: The largely unseen Swiss team. Derice idolizes them and tries to model himself after them because they're some of the best athletes in the world.
• An Aesop: Two are given to Derice, which help in his Character Development.
  • The first one is from Sanka: Trying to imitate those who are better than you won't improve your act. Just be yourself, for that's the best you can ever be.
    Sanka: Let me tell you somethin' Rasta, I didn't come up here to forget who I am and where I come from.[...]If we look Jamaican, walk Jamaican, talk Jamaican and IS Jamaican, then we sure as hell better bobsled Jamaican.
  • The second one is from Irv: Winning is important, but not as important as determination and integrity. If you do things you're not proud of to win, you'll never forgive yourself at best, and feel completely worthless if you're caught.
    Irving: A gold medal is a wonderful thing, but if you're not enough without it, you'll never be enough with it.
    Derice: Hey, Coach, how will I know if I'm enough?
    Irv: When you cross that finish line tomorrow, you'll know.
• The Alleged Car:
  • The bobsled, a rickety old sled that cleans up nicely, but initially looks like crap. It also breaks in the final moments of the last run, costing them a world record.
  • Sanka's beat up Volkswagen Beetle.
• Anachronism Stew: A shot of flags waving in the wind shows those of Romania and Russia. The former would have had a coat of arms that was removed after the collapse of the country's communist regime in 1989, and the latter would have taken part as the Soviet Union. ^note Which they did: the mens' ice hockey team are the ones who interrupt the Jamaicans' time on the ice rink, and several Soviet athletes are involved in the Bar Brawl.
• Answer Cut: Starting in Mr. Coolidge's office.
  Derice: Just one more thing...what's a bobsled?
  (cut to Derice kicking the wheels off Sanka's push-cart)
  Derice: That's a bobsled.
  Sanka: Oh, so a bobsled is a push-cart with no wheels!
• Artistic License – Sports/Broad Strokes:
  • The real life coach of the 1988 Jamaican bobsled team was named Pat Brown, and he was not ever involved in any cheating scandal.
  • In real life, the team did not carry their bobsled across the finish line after the crash, but simply walked beside it while support staff pushed it across. Also, it was determined their crash was caused by operator error, not mechanical failure.
  • The Switzerland bobsled is shown as having "Schweiz"^note the German name for Switzerland painted along the side, instead of "Suisse"^note the French name, the one the Swiss teams traditionally use.
  • The competition is shown as being decided on three runs over three days, rather than four runs over two days.
  • Each sport in the Winter Olympics is organised by their respective world governing body, rather than the "International Alliance of Winter Sports". Bobsleigh's was the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT)^note since 2016 called the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF).
  • As there is no set length for a bobsled run, world records don't exist in the sport.
  • The Jamaicans are portrayed as having a chance of a medal before crashing in their final run. In real life, in their final run they would have had to shatter the Olympic record by an unrealistic margin to win bronze. In their first two events before the crash, they finished 24th and 25th out of 26 competitors.
  • In real life the Olympic athletics trials would never have been held 10 months before the Summer Games. They were actually held after the Winter Games.
  • With only five men finishing in the 100m Olympic trial, there would have been a vacancy in the six-man 4x100m relay squad. This would surely have been offered to Derice as the Jamaican #1, so he would have gone to the Summer Olympics after all.
  • It is implied that Irv's cheating in the 1972 Games got his 1968 gold medals withdrawn. Being disqualified at one Games would not have impacted on his awards from a previous clean performance^note unless his '68 team-mates testified he cheated in that Olympics as well.
  • The shot of flags mentioned in "Anachronism Stew" above also shows Sri Lanka's flag. As of 2018, they have never competed at the Winter Olympics.
  • Derice states that he has run the 100m in 9.9. At the time, the only athlete to run 9.90 or faster was Ben Johnson (whose performances were later found to have been steroid-assisted).
  • Mr. Coolidge says "Let it go, Derice. You'll have another chance in four years." Everyone in the athletics world knows that four years is a hell of a time for an athlete to remain at peak, and that the Olympics isn't the only major competition. Mr. Coolidge would have said "Let it go, Derice. You'll have the Commonwealth Games in 1990."
    • Although this could have been intended as an example of sports administrators being out of touch with athletes.
  • Suffice to say that if there is a set qualifying time to make the Olympics in a trial race - that everyone else has already competed against - changing it arbitrarily for just one time would be blatantly impossible. Ditto changing the rule that in an Olympic year, the qualifying run counts for the international race requirement.
• The Atoner:
  • Irv, who was disgraced after cheating at bobsledding in the 1972 games, which ended his career. He seeks to redeem himself with Derice's team.
  • Also Junior, who accepts responsibility for the fact that his tripping is what kept the sprinters from going to the Summer Olympics and sells his car to fund their trip to Calgary in order to make amends.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Irv may have gone to seed as an athlete, but he immediately sizes up the strengths and weaknesses of his team and puts them in the most appropriate spots, including positioning Derice as the driver because he's the only one with the drive and the commitment to take on that responsibility.
• Badass Boast:
  • After Irv declares how impressed he was with Ben Bannock's 100m dash in 10 seconds flat, Derice tells him, "I run it in 9.9."
  • Sanka gives one to Irv to try and convince him to let Sanka be the driver, only to be cut down when Irv responds with his own, far more impressive boast.
    Sanka: You don't understand, I am Sanka Coffie, I am the best pushcart driver in all of Jamaica! I must drive! Do you dig where I'm coming from?
    Irv: Yeah, I dig where you're coming from.
    Sanka: Good.
    Irv: Now dig where I'm coming from. I'm coming from two gold medals. I'm coming from nine world records in both the two- and four-man events. I'm coming from ten years of intense competition with the best athletes in the world.
    Sanka: (Beat) ...That's a hell of a place to be coming from!
• Bait-and-Switch Comment: After Irv makes his impassioned plea to the Olympic Alliance, the whole team waits for their answer, and Irv takes the phone call:
  Irv: Yeah... yeah... I understand. (hangs up)
  Derice: What?
  Irv: Oh, that was the Alliance... (scoffs in disgust) God...
  Derice: What did they say?!
  Irv: Ugh... they say we're back in!
  (The team explodes in cheers and dog-piles on Irv.)
• Bald Head of Toughness: Much like the actor he is named after, Yul Brenner is bald and easily the strongest and toughest member of the team.
• Bar Brawl: Yul, Junior, and Sanka start one with the East German team in a famous cowboy bar after they insult Junior.
• "Begone" Bribe: The result of Sanka's fundraising song.
  "I'll pay you a dollar to shut up!"
• Be Yourself: The Jamaican team's performance at the Olympics dramatically improves after Sanka convinces Derice they should stop trying to imitate the other teams and embrace their roots to create their own style.
• Bittersweet Ending: The Jamaicans crash in their final race and fail to win a medal. However, they prove to their countrymen, their fellow Olympians, and themselves that they are true bobsledders and the epilogue reveals the team returns to the next Winter Olympics as respected equals.
• Brand X: The IOC is replaced with the fictional "International Alliance of Winter Sports".
• Brief Accent Imitation: When Irv is told that the Jamaicans' time for their qualifying run has been shortened more than it already had been, he responds with a Jamaican (and sarcastic) "No problem, mon."
• Bring My Brown Pants:
  [after being told to "hold it" by his coach before a run, the team has crashed on the course]
  Derice: Well, at least you can pee now.
  Sanka: ...nnn, too late.
• Broken Ace: Irv Blitzer used to be a two-time Olympic gold medalist with multiple world records. Then he cheated, got caught, and was expelled from his sport. His mind and instincts are still razor sharp, but he's now incredibly overweight (he probably weighs more than the bobsleds he used to ride) and is a bitter, lonely cynic.
• Cerebus Callback: See Catchphrase
• The Chains of Commanding: When Sanka protests that he is the best pushcart driver in all of Jamaica, Irv explains to him exactly why he doesn't want to be the driver/captain of the sled:
  Irv: You see, Sanka, the driver has to work harder than anyone. He's the first to show up, and the last to leave. While his teammates are out drinking beer, he's up in his room, studying pictures of turns. You see, a driver has to remain focused one hundred percent at all times. Not only is he responsible for knowing every inch of every course he runs, he's responsible for the lives of the other three people in his sled. Now, do you want that responsibility?
  Sanka: I say we make Derice the driver.
  Irv: So do I, Sanka. So do I.
• Champions on the Inside: They lost, but they proved they can compete in the Winter Olympics and earned the respect of their global peers.
• Character Catchphrase: Several phrases are repeated several times. Some of them are changed near the end, to indicate Character Development. For example, "Sanka/Derice, you dead?" "Ya, mon." becomes "No mon, I'm not dead. We have to finish the race... ", while Grool's derisively calling the guys "Jamaica" becomes a term of respect/endearment at the end.
  • Also, as Yul and Junior start to interact, Yul develops a habit of doing something nice for Junior and punctuating it with, "This doesn't mean I like you." The final time he says it, it's right after he's kissed Junior on the forehead and just before giving him a giant hug.
• Character Development:
  • Derice overcomes self-doubt (Trying to imitate the Swiss, wanting to know why Irv cheated when he was an Olympian, and wondering what is "good enough")
  • Yul Brenner overcomes his anger at Junior and, for the most part, drops his standoffish behavior.
  • Junior gets more self-confident and stands up to his father.
  • Irv banishes the demons of his past.
  • Sanka overcomes the cold.
• Chekhov's Skill:
  • Sanka is established early on as the best push-cart driver in Jamaica, so he naturally assumes that he'll be the bobsled driver. Subverted when Irv makes him the brake man, as driving a bobsled entails more responsibility than Sanka can handle.
  • Played straight with Sanka as he is seen in Jamaica spray-painting and is presumably the one who decorated their sled in Calgary.
• Chromosome Casting: Downplayed - there are a few prominent women in Jamaica (Derice's wife, Sanka's mom), but all the important characters in Calgary are men.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Sanka's more on the goofy end of this trope.
• Crazy Enough to Work:
  Mr. Coolidge: Can you imagine a Jamaican bobsled team?
  (Derice starts thinking, "Yeah...")
• Declaration of Personal Independence: Junior delivers one to his father when he finally stands up to him.
  Junior: Father...when you look at me, what do you see?
  Father: I don't have time for games, Junior.
  Junior: Tell me what you see! Please.
  Father: All right, I'll tell you what I see. I see a lost little boy who is lucky to have a father who knows what's best for him.
  Junior: No, no, no, you don't know what's best for me, Father! I am not a "lost little boy", Father! I am a man, Father, and I am an Olympian! And I'm staying right here.
• Determinator: Derice.
  Blitzer: Do the words "Give up" mean anything to you?
  Derice: Not a thing.
• Did You Die?:
  Derice: Sanka... you dead?
  Sanka: Ya, mon.
  • Gets a Call-Back near the end of the movie:
    Sanka: Derice... you dead?
    Derice: No, man. I'm not dead. But we got to finish the race. (they all get up from under the overturned sled and carry it to the finish line)
• Disappointed in You: After the Bar Brawl, Derice (the only member of the team who wasn't involved) scolds the others like a responsible older brother before Irv shows up and yells at them like a father disciplining his sons for being naughty.
  Derice: I can't believe it. I just can't believe it. Didn't one of you have the sense to know better? (re their snickering) Go ahead, laugh. I wanna see who's laughing when Irv gets here.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?
  Junior: Seemin' to you nobody likes us?
  Yul Brynner: We're different. People are always afraid of what's different.
  • It's probably not a coincidence that everyone on the East German team is blonde-haired or blue-eyed, or both.
• Dramatic Drop: When Irv and the team reach the exit door at the Calgary airport, Irv casually walks out into the cold and snow. The guys are so stunned that they stop at the doorway, Sanka's duffel bag slides down his arm, and Yul drops his suitcase.
• Dreadlock Rasta: Sanka. Irv sticks him in a freezer at one point to get him used to the Canadian cold, and by the time he gets out, he can break a dreadlock off.
• Epic Fail: During the montage of the bobsledders trying to raise money, Sanka tries his hand at singing on the street. He makes $1.16, and that was after someone paid him a dollar to shut up.
  • Yul and Sanka's combined efforts to raise money fall under this category. Between the two of them, they manage to bring in $10.68, a lot less than they could have made had either of them gotten a job.
• Exposed to the Elements: The team arrives in Calgary not remotely dressed for a Canadian winter.
• Extreme Doormat: Junior starts off as one until Yul verbally pounds him into standing up for himself with his, "I see pride!" pep talk.
• Failure Montage:
  • The first Training Montage, unsurprisingly, is mainly one of these.
  • A variation occurs when Derice is trying to find someone to sponsor the team, which leads to a montage of various company representatives all laughing at him.
• False Reassurance: Irv has this to say during the presentation:
  Irv: Always remember, your bones will not break in a bobsled. No, no. They shatter.
• Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Junior's wealthy father stubbornly wants his son to devote his career to lucrative businesses far away from athletic sports. Usually, being an Olympian would be an asset in business, but the team's embarrassing first run gives Mr. Bevil proof enough to go to Calgary. He does come around after his son stands up to him and he sees The Determinator spirit the team has.
• First Snow: Played for Laughs. The gang get their first taste of snow when they reach Calgary and are surprised by how friggin' cold it is.
• Fish out of Water: A group of Jamaicans trying to become a bobsled team?
• Flowery Insults: Sanka describes Yul as "the kind of club-toting, raw-meat-eating, Me-Tarzan-You-Jane-ing, big, bald bubblehead that can only count to ten if he's barefoot or wearing sandals."
• Freakier Than Fiction: If the film were created in 1987, how many people would believe it? Lampshaded throughout the film, as many of the characters don't believe it either.
• Germanic Efficiency: The Swiss bobsled team.
• Grievous Bottley Harm: During the Bar Brawl, one of the East Germans prepares to whack Yul with a beer bottle and Junior hits him first. Then someone else hits Junior.
• Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Not 'evil' in the traditional sense, but Derice, who has wanted nothing more than to just compete in the Olympics, cannot understand why Irv would cheat when he already had two gold medals.
• Group Picture Ending: A team photo is taken after their last race, with the final shot of the film showing it being hung in Mr. Coolidge's office, above the photo of Irv and Derice's father.
• HA HA HA—No: The stock reaction from businessmen whom the team seeks sponsorships from.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: That's Yul Brenner all over.
• Handshake Refusal: Junior tries to shake hands with Yul before the track meet and gets a Death Glare in return.
• Hated Hometown: Yul hates Jamaica. The only reason he joins the team "is to get offa this stinkin' island".
• Hates Being Touched: Yul, mostly because he hates everybody. He gets over it.
• Heroic BSoD: Yul, when Sanka and Junior inform him that the mansion Yul's always dreamed of earning is a photo of Buckingham Palace. Thanks to Junior's support, it does not last through the night.
  Junior: You go and get your palace.
• Hidden Depths: Underneath his veneer of being a lazy goofball, Sanka is very proud of being Jamaican and he's the one who convinces the team to adopt their own style instead of copying the Swiss.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: The Olympic community, especially the East Germans, was welcoming and friendly to the Jamaicans, completely the opposite of what the film portrays.
• I Am X, Son of Y: "My name is Derice Bannock. I'm Ben Bannock's son."
• I Was Quite a Looker: When Derice shows Irv the old photo of him with Ben Bannock (Derice's father), Irv admires his long-gone looks for a moment, then catches his current reflection in the frame glass.
  Irv: (looks at his picture) Heh, would you look at me then? (sees his reflection) Oof, would you look at me now?
• Improvised Training: For starters, the makeshift bobsled on wheels they practice on in Jamaica.
• Insult of Endearment: Josef Grul's use of "Jamaica" for Derice evolves from dismissal to respect over the course of the movie.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Yul. He becomes a Defrosting Ice King as the movie goes on.
• Keep It Foreign: In the undubbed version, the Swiss bobsledders speak standard German (Hochdeutsch)^note This does not make any sense, as the only situations Swiss people speak standard German are in school, in Parliament, on TV news, or when speaking to outsiders whom they know not to speak Swiss German with. And even then a Swiss tinge is audible. Could be excused if it were non-German speaking Swiss as they only learn Standard German in school (and no dialect) but why would they be speaking German in the first place?. In the German-dubbed version, the Swiss have a strong Swiss accent, as do the Jamaicans imitating them.
• Let Me at Him!: Derice and Sanka have to physically restrain Yul from killing Junior at the first bobsledding meeting.
• Moving the Goalposts: The Powers That Be do this to try to keep Jamaica from qualifying. First, they keep shortening the time requirements. When Jamaica makes the cut anyway, they try to claim that it doesn't count. Irv calls them on it big time, and they relent.
• My Grandma Can Do Better Than You: When Yul is annoyed at Junior taking too long to get ready for a night out.
  Yul: Hurry up, man. I've got a dead grandmother that moves faster than you.
• Named After Somebody Famous: Yul Brenner's just one letter away.
  • Lampshaded by Irv Blitzer's reaction upon hearing Yul's name.
    Irv: (silently mouthing) Yul Brenner?
    Sanka: (shrugs)
  • Of course, Sanka Coffie is also one letter away from Sanka Coffee
• National Stereotypes: Jamaicans are cool, while German-speaking competitors are disciplined.
• No OSHA Compliance: Irv runs a clip about bobsledding, which happens to demonstrate just how dangerous it is.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • When Sanka first reads about bobsledding, he reads the word "ice" and shits a brick.
  • Derice upon witnessing some of the crashes shown in Irv's bobsledding presentation.
  • Junior when he shows up for the meeting and sees Yul, who is still pissed at him.
    Junior: (walks in) Hey, meeting start yet? (sees Yul) Uh-oh...
    Yul: You! I'll KILL you!
  • Derice's reaction when his wife shows up at the kissing booth. And then Sanka's reaction when he sees that the next woman in line is both very elderly and apparently toothless.
  • The four Jamaicans upon seeing their first Canadian winter.
  • A milder example when Junior suggests calling their bobsled "Tallulah" and the others all laugh, with Sanka suggesting it "sounds like a $2 hooker", only for Junior to clarify quite calmly that it's his mother's name. The others hastily agree that it's not such a bad name, although they do ultimately go with "Cool Runnings" instead.
• One-Sided Arm-Wrestling: Yul Brenner has a montage where he effortlessly beats opponent after opponent for money so the team can travel to Canada for qualifiers. Then he is struggling and ultimately bested by... a large, burly woman.
• On Three: Derice doing this in German (to mimic the Swiss) throws his teammates off their game.
• Opposing Sports Team: Pretty much everyone else in the Winter Olympics, but mainly East Germany.
  ''You have no business here, Jamaica!"
• Patriotic Fervor: Pride in Jamaican heritage is a consistent theme throughout the movie, including in the movie’s Rousing Speech and culminating in the following quote:
  Announcer: Where did these guys come from?
  Bar Crowd: JAMAICA!!!
• Percussive Therapy: After losing money in a horse race, Irv takes his anger out on his radio.
• Polar Bears and Penguins: "You mean winter, as in igloos and Eskimos and penguins and ICE?"
• Precision F-Strike:
  • Actually "Precision D-Strike": "Will ya shut up about the damn Swiss?"
  • Yul describes Grool as "one of the biggest assholes in the world."
• Product Placement: Jamaicans love their Coca-Cola, don't they?
  • The qualifying sprint race has a Coca-Cola banner in the background.
  • The guys are drinking Coca-Cola while they celebrate their successful bobsled qualifier.
• Rags to Riches: Junior's father went from "one-room hut" to "one of the biggest homes in Kingston". Yul has similar ambitions, which Junior encourages.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Derice and his boys slowly go from this to Fire-Forged Friends.
• Revenge by Proxy: Blitzer notices this, and prevents it from going ahead.
• Rousing Speech: Sanka gives a minor one prior to their second race about the importance of remembering their Jamaican heritage, despite their hostile treatment.
• Running Gag:
  • "Sanka... You dead?" "Ya mon."
  • "Greetings, Sled God!"
  • Sanka's general struggles with the ICE.
• Scary Black Man: Yul.
• Self-Made Man: Junior says his father "started off in a one-room hut" and "now he lives in one of the biggest homes in Kingston".
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The soft-spoken Junior is the sensitive guy to the standoffish Yul Brenner's manly man.
• Shout-Out: The film title is inspired by a line from Bob Marley's song "Blackman Redemption" from his album Confrontation.
• Slow Clap: Started by East Germany's bobsledder near the ending.
• Spirited Competitor: The Jamaican team, but Derice in particular, who is the most focused in the sport, and is hungry to follow the legacy of his father, who was an Olympic sprinter.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: After Irv has shown and discusses the injury and death potential of bobsledding, the lights come on to reveal that all the attendees have split.
• Steel Drums and Sunshine: The soundtrack of the Jamaica-set scenes has a lot of steel drums.
• Stock Footage: The real team's footage was used in the Olympic competition scenes and the crash scene was the real crash.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: The real life Jamaican bobsled team admitted that their crash was human error and that they lost fair and square; they jokingly approved of the movie's version where it was a faulty sled.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • While a one-minute pep talk in the bathroom gets Junior wound up for a hot second, it does not in fact magically make him truly confident and assertive, and he ends up getting just far enough to get himself in trouble before his courage fails him.
  • The bobsled the team uses is a years-old practice sled given to them by one of Irv's old teammates. While they manage to make it look respectable with a new paint job, the years of wear and tear eventually cause it to fall apart during the final run and cost the Jamaicans a medal.
• Talking to the Dead: Derice talks to a picture of his father after failing to make the Olympic sprinting team (assuming, of course, that his father actually is dead).
  "Well, Papa, what do I do now?"
• Teach Him Anger:
  Yul: I see PRIDE! I see POWER! I see a badass mutha who don't take no crap off of NOBODY!
• Technician vs. Performer: The Swiss and East German teams are technicians; the Jamaicans are performers. One of those instances where the performers lose, but still earn the technicians' respect.
• Title Drop: The team's mantra and rallying cry is Cool Runnings, which Derice explains means "peace be the journey."
  • It's also the name of their sled, after Junior's suggestion of "Tallulah" is met with laughter until he explains that it's his mother's name.
• Training Montage: One when they're practicing the push start while in Jamaica, and one when they're training in Calgary.
• Tranquil Fury: When his teammates laugh at his suggestion of naming the bobsled "Tallulah", Junior doesn't get angry while informing them that it's his mother's name. He speaks very calmly and flatly indeed. The other guys hastily agree that it's not such a bad idea.
• Travelling Salesman Montage: Trying to get corporate sponsorship, everyone just laughs at them.^note In Real Life, a beer company supported them.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Yul became notably more laid-back during the middle of the movie.
• Trick Dialogue: Junior practicing talking to his father… with his dog.
• Truth in Television: Jamaica's team has at times held the push record for bobsled, they beat major competitors in 1994, and Jamaican-born Lascalles Brown is an Olympic medalist for Canada.
• Undercrank: Used for comedic effect during the team's arrival sequence at Calgary.
• Underdogs Never Lose: Averted. They transcended the need to win. (And a pretty unique way of being underdogs, too.)
• Very Loosely Based on a True Story:
  • Instead of the unanimous derision depicted in the film, the international Olympic community welcomed the Jamaicans with open arms, providing them with equipment and coaching, and one of the most supportive teams in real life was...that of East Germany.
  • Outside of the crash footage at the climax of the film and the fact that Jamaica had an Olympic bobsled team that year, just about everything else—including the names of the actual participants—was a fictionalized creation.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Derice and Sanka josh around each other, but are each others' oldest friends. Later on, Yul and Junior becomes each other's best friends too.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Junior. He gets his "Well done" when he sees his father wearing a Jamaican Bobsledding T-shirt at the end.
• Worthy Opponent: Josef Grool finally recognizes the Jamaicans, and especially Derice, as this.
  Grool: Sehr gut, Jamaica. We'll see you in four years, ja?
  Derice: Yeah, man.

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The Jamaican bobsled team returned to their country as heroes.
Four years later, they returned to the Olympics...as equals.

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