INTERNET USERS HAVE raised more than $30,000 to help send the Jamaican bobsleigh team to the 2014 Winter Olympics.
And they did it all in Dogecoin – an online currency based around a 2013 meme.
This afternoon, Team Jamaica confirmed that their two-man team have qualified for the Olympics in Sochi for the first time in a decade. However, it was revealed last week that the team are struggling to fund their trip to Russia.
They’ve now had a cash injection from the new currency Dogecoin, whose fans – apparently also aficionados of Cool Runnings – have so far contributed more than $30,000 towards the fund.
Dogecoin is an online currency with similarities to Bitcoin, the peer-to-peer ‘cryptocurrency’ that has gained prominence in recent years. It uses the image of Doge, a meme of a Shiba Inu dog.
Members of the Dogecoin community on Reddit launched the funding campaign at the weekend after learning that the Jamaican team were on the verge of qualification. The original poster wrote that it was “a great opportunity to promote dogecoin on the world stage”.
And Team Jamaica quickly picked up on the effort, retweeting an appeal from their official account:
Today, the Dogecoin appeal’s leaders revealed that they have raised more than $30,000 (€22,000) towards the team’s journey to Sochi – and converted it into usable currency to protect it from Dogecoin fluctuations.
One of them, Liam Butler, told the Guardian:
As someone who grew up in the 90s, Cool Runnings was the ultimate feelgood movie about underdogs out of their element achieving their dreams. When I was about seven years old, my best friend and I had a billy-cart that his dad built. When we would start our run down his driveway, we would shout out the catchphrase.
Team Jamaica’s full funding goal is $80,000. They have eight days remaining on their official crowdfunding page. Will they get there?
