Personal information | |
---|---|
Full name | Nelson Christian Stokes |
Nationality | Jamaican |
Born | Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica | 2 November 1963
Height | 1.89 m (6 ft 2+1⁄2 in) |
Weight | 90 kg (200 lb)[1] |
Sport | |
Country | ![]() |
Sport | ![]() |
Team | Jamaican Bobsleigh |
Achievements and titles | |
Olympic finals | ![]() |
Highest world ranking | 14th (1994) |
Nelson Christian "Chris" Stokes has been an active member of the Jamaican Bobsleigh Team since its inception in 1988.[2]
Stokes was a successful track and field athlete, and after his associate degree from Bronx Community College, he was awarded an athletic scholarship to the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho.[2] After finishing a bachelor's degree in finance (cum laude) at the U of I, he went on to earn an MBA from nearby Washington State University in Pullman and a masters in Banking (with honors) from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.[3]
While in graduate school at WSU, he tried out for the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, and ended up in the Winter Olympics at Calgary.[2]
His day job is as Vice President of Business Development at the Victoria Mutual Building Society. Stokes married Kayon Elizabeth Smith on 18 March 2006.[4]
Along with his brother Dudley Stokes, Chris competed in four separate winter Olympics.[5]
In addition to his Olympic competition, Chris Stokes has been president of the Jamaica Bobsleigh Federation since 1995. He wrote Cool Runnings and Beyond – The Story of the Jamaica Bobsleigh Team (ISBN 1-58982-082-7) about his team's Olympic competition.