2014.01.22 互联网刚刚把牙买加的雪橇队送到了索契

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GLOBAL
The Internet Just Sent Jamaica's Bobsled Team to Sochi
And it used something called "Dogecoin" to do it.

By Alex Brown and National Journal
JANUARY 22, 2014
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Photo: Robert Laberge/Getty Images; National Journal illustration
Jamaica's underfunded underdogs are going back to the Olympics—and this time their trip is backed not by wealthy businessmen but by a legion of generous Internet fans.

Bobsled driver Winston Watts and brakeman Marvin Dixon qualified for the Sochi Games, but their entry was in jeopardy after they came up $80,000 short of the funding needed to make the trip.


Enter the Internet.

Crowdfunding sites Crowdtilt and Indiegogo took up the Jamaicans' cause, hauling in six figures in just two days from donors around the world (the original fundraising deadline was nine days). "The outpouring of support at the grassroots level through crowdfunding sites was tremendous and humbling," said Chris Stokes, a member of the 1988 team that inspired the movie Cool Runnings and the current head of the Jamaica Bobsleigh Federation.

Perhaps most unusual—$30,000 of the crowdfunding dollars came from Dogecoin, an online "cryptocurrency"—the same concept as Bitcoin—that's based on the popular doge meme. The Dogecoin Foundation gave 27 million of its digital units to the Crowdtilt campaign. The currency created late last year calls itself the most-traded digital currency and pegs its value at $0.0018 per doge.

"It's humbling to see people get together and do something so positive on the Internet, and if we can promote that spirit through Dogecoin then I think our mission is complete," said Jackson Palmer, the currency's co-founder.

The online support, said Watts, adds to the team's motivation. "[The donors] have a trust in us, because they know that Jamaica—we have some of the best athletes in the world," he said. "They want to see us dominate winter sports as well. They have put a big trust in us; they want to support us."


Watts, 46, is ending nearly a decade of retirement to bring Jamaica its first Winter Olympics appearance since 2002. "It's been a rocky road, hard road, to get where we are right now," he said. The donations will help the team get the equipment upgrades it needs, specifically the sled runners, to be competitive with their better-funded competitors.

"Every now and then we see the connection that Jamaica bobsled makes with … individuals around the world," Stokes said, citing the enduring popularity of the 1993 movie. "People relate to Jamaica bobsled and what it means.… There are people contributing to the program who were not born in 1988."

Alex Brown is a Congressional correspondent at National Journal.



全球
互联网刚刚把牙买加的雪橇队送到了索契
它使用了一种叫做 "Dogecoin "的东西来做这件事。

亚历克斯-布朗和《国家日报》报道
2014年1月22日


照片。Robert Laberge/Getty Images; National Journal插图
牙买加资金不足的弱者将重返奥运赛场--这次他们的旅行不是由富有的商人支持，而是由慷慨的互联网粉丝军团支持。

雪橇司机温斯顿-沃茨和刹车员马文-迪克森获得了索契奥运会的参赛资格，但他们的参赛资格在他们缺少8万美元的参赛资金后陷入了困境。


进入互联网。

众筹网站Crowdtilt和Indiegogo接手了牙买加人的事业，在短短两天内从世界各地的捐助者那里获得了六位数的资金（最初的筹款期限是九天）。克里斯-斯托克斯（Chris Stokes）说："通过众筹网站在基层获得的支持是巨大的，也是令人谦卑的，"他是1988年激励电影《酷跑》的团队成员，也是牙买加雪橇联合会的现任负责人。

也许最不寻常的是--30,000美元的众筹资金来自Dogecoin，这是一种在线 "加密货币"--与比特币的概念相同--基于流行的doge备忘录。Dogecoin基金会向Crowdtilt的活动提供了2700万个数字单位。这种去年年底创建的货币称自己是交易量最大的数字货币，并将其价值锁定在每枚狗币0.0018美元。

"看到人们聚集在一起，在互联网上做一些如此积极的事情，让人感到很惭愧，如果我们能通过Dogecoin促进这种精神，那么我认为我们的使命就完成了，"该货币的联合创始人杰克逊-帕尔默说。

瓦特说，网上的支持，增加了团队的动力。"[捐助者]对我们有一种信任，因为他们知道牙买加--我们有一些世界上最好的运动员，"他说。"他们希望看到我们也能在冬季运动中占据主导地位。他们对我们给予了很大的信任；他们想支持我们。"


46岁的沃茨正在结束近十年的退休生活，为牙买加带来自2002年以来的首次冬奥会亮相。"他说："这是一条坎坷的道路，艰难的道路，才能达到我们现在的位置。这些捐款将帮助该团队获得所需的设备升级，特别是雪橇运动员，以便与资金雄厚的竞争对手竞争。

斯托克斯说："现在我们看到牙买加雪橇与......世界各地的人建立了联系，"他引用了1993年电影的持久人气。"人们与牙买加雪橇和它的意义有关，....，有些人对这个项目的贡献不是在1988年出生的。"

亚历克斯-布朗是《国家日报》的国会记者。