Powered By The People
- Neil Simmons
- Feb 20, 2018
- 2 min read
Imagine how you would feel, if after having competed and trained hard for a lifetime goal, you were told that the support you were receiving was being taken away just a few months before the start of one of the biggest events of your life.
This is what happened to British bobsleighers Mica McNeill and Mica Moore who were told by their federation that the funding they received being stopped as there was only enough money to fund the men’s team.
For a lot of athletes this would have been the end of the dream, but not for these pair who were determined to make it to the Winter Olympics.
They set a crowd-funding target of £30,000 and through the support of the public they hit their target within six days. After this amazing effort from fans in Britain the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association did manage to free up more funds, but already the two Olympians had secured their dream.
Their aims were simple for Pyeongchang, to perform to the best of their ability and in any sport that is all that is asked. Mica McNeill was so thankful to the support they received and paid tribute to public.
“There was overspend and we had to suffer for it which ultimately meant we wouldn’t be going to the Games. So we thought we can’t let that stop us and we reached out to the public and they really got behind us. They’ve got us standing here today.”
Within an hour of this post being written McNeill and Moore will be heading into the heat with the assistance and support of the public.
Whenever you read an interview about the pair or see them on television you can’t help but notice the steely resolve, the determination and fight but above that all the gratitude towards what has occurred over the last few months.
McNeill’s father had bought her sled, for a cost of £50,000. When the women were pulled into the office their dreams were shattered when told the money was not there to send them to the games. That is when the fight to maintain the dream kicked in.
She had read the comments left by members of the public and noticed how the money was rising with every view. The sled had carried a ‘Powered by the People’ logo, but this will not be on show in her heat as the IOC does not allow any ‘political’ statements.
The team are now ranked 12th in the world.
When McNeill and Moore push their sled off the start a little later, they will have the weight of an entire nation behind them and in the Olympics that could be the answer.
Every Olympic event carries a story and this one is no different.
Mica McNeill and Mica Moore, two British bobsleighers who although will not be allowed to carry the logo, will most definitely be powered by the people.
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