Two British women bobsledders "kept alive their dream" of competing at next year’s PyeongChang Olympics by raising the money they need "after being told there was only enough funding for the men," according to Alan Baldwin of the REUTERS. Mica McNeill and teammate Mica Moore appealed for £30,000 ($40,342) to get to February’s Games in South Korea. The tally on their gofundme.com page reached £32,575 ($43,805) by Tuesday, "six days after being launched, with 574 people contributing." McNeill said that the "overwhelming" support meant the pair, which won the world junior title in January, could compete on the World Cup circuit, "which they needed to do in order to qualify." McNeill said, "We are powered by the people and it is them who will be pushing us down the track" (REUTERS, 9/26). In London, Martha Kelner reported McNeill said that she wants people at the British Bobsleigh & Skeleton Association to be held accountable after financial "mismanagement" led to a £50,000 ($67,237) overspend at the governing body. She is "frustrated at the BBSA for leaving her in a situation where she is forced to rely on the goodwill of strangers." She said, "I’ve asked why fund three men’s crews and no women’s and the answer I get is that the men are a medal focus. You can use that excuse on one sled or even two but the fact that it’s three and still calling it a medal focus is confusing for me. You don’t want to call it out as sexism but we found ourselves in this situation and to think that it could be a sexist decision, you don’t want to believe it" (GUARDIAN, 9/25).
QUICK CASH: The BBC's Nick Hope reported within a couple of hours of launching her own funding campaign on Tuesday, British bobsleigh pilot Donna Creighton had "raised more than a third" of her £30,000 target following an anonymous £10,000 ($13,447) donation. The BBSA intends to "continue supporting" three men's teams on its performance program (BBC, 9/26).
