Team GB’s record bobsledder who crowdfunded £42,000 returns to Winter Olympics with different nation

Former Great Britain bobsleigher Mica Moore will be racing against Team GB upon her return to the Winter Olympics.

The Wales-born athlete, who achieved Britain’s best result in women’s bobsleigh, has qualified for Jamaica in the Milano Cortina Games.

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The 32-year-old and her ex-teammate Mica McNeill became home heroes at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

After the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association (BBSA) withdrew funding, the pair crowdfunded to raise the £30,000 needed.

They ultimately raked in £42,390 and more than made the most of the money by producing the best result by a British women’s team.

McNeil returned to the Olympics four years later, but Moore quit the team amid allegations of ‘damaging and offensive behaviour’.

Team GB bobsleigher makes Olympics for Jamaica

Moore, from Newport in south Wales, received Jamaican citizenship in December 2024 and qualified for the 2026 Games in the monobob.

Her old Olympic teammate, McNeil, has since retired, but she did win a World Cup medal in 2022 alongside Adele Nicoll, who will compete for Team GB in the monobob at Milano Cortina.

Moore, meanwhile, represented Wales at the 2014 Commonwealth Games as a track sprinter before switching to bobsleigh.

Following her exit from the British winter sports programme in 2022, she switched allegiances to Jamaica through her grandfather, Venson Byfield, who came to the UK in the ‘Windrush’ generation.

“I can’t believe it, four years ago I watched from the side lines all my fabulous friends from around the world announce they were going to Games, but four years later I’ve booked my seat at the party,” Moore said on social media.

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“This is the biggest message to myself to never ever give up!” Moore added on Instagram. “To keep going even when hurting.

“To keep going when tired, To keep going when others try to halt you, To keep going even when times are happy, never give up!!!!

“The journey was never going to be easy! Three new challenging tracks learnt and a whole heap of races against the best in the world!

“Quite frankly, I could never ever have done this without my close friends, Nick and my family. Who all picked me up from the trenches, when the future seemed too distant for that I will be forever thankful. My mum and dad who have supported my whole career.

“To my sponsors, past and present. I am so grateful, you believed in my dream?! Little old me?!

“I can’t tell you how much that means to me! without your support none of this can happen and this little Welsh, Jamaican will always remember how you made the journey happen!”

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‘Greatest honour of my career’

Moore continued: “To the team around the dream. Team Coaches, team mates, my brakewoman Chloe, Jazz, Audra – I could not have done this without you, thank you for allowing me to be your on ice uber driver this year and I’m sorry we can’t be there together.

“After being agonisingly close to qualifying the two women sled, this is a bittersweet moment.

“To the British Army for all your support, joining the reserves whilst preparing for an Olympic Games was an extra challenge but one that definitely boosted my resilience and drive!

“This is my greatest honour of my career to represent my heritage of Jamaica at the Olympics, a moment I have only dreamt of!

“I hope I can make you all proud! Next stop, Cortina!”