For Team GB’s celebration of Black History Month, Summer and Winter Olympian Montell Douglas is speaking with three Team GB trailblazers about their experiences. In this second instalment, Montell talks to fellow bobsledder Leon Greenwood.
Montell Douglas: It is Black History Month, I’ve spoken about this before, I’ve written articles about a lack of black talent, or I would say black athlete representation, because the talent is definitely there. And it is across the sports in winter sports, I find, I don’t know if you have noticed that?
Leon Greenwood: Do you know what is great is the GB team is so diverse now. I think it might be 50/50, which, when I started, there was one person.
Montell: It wasn’t you, was it?
Leon: It wasn’t me! I joined and then there were two. So now we are in such a great space where we have got Ashleigh Nelson, who you probably know quite well.
To answer your question, it is not a diverse sport, winter sport isn’t, and I don’t know why, maybe it comes down to having role models. If you saw someone who looks like you in a sport you liked watching. Or, if you just managed to watch bobsleigh and they see me and Taylor [Lawrence] and they think, Oh that is a cool sport and there is someone who looks like me, that might inspire them to be a bobsledder.
I think that is so important to be a positive role model, especially to the next generation, because when I was growing up, there was no one who looked like me. I didn’t have any immediate family that were, I was brought up in a single-parent household with my mum, who is white, I didn’t have that black figure growing up, so I had to search for one. There was no one on TV, the only people, you’ll know who they are, the Michael Jordans, the Usain Bolts, the Steve Harveys. These were three people who shaped my adulthood.
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Montell: That is so true, and it is so funny to hear all the different characters that you have put into yourself. I’m like, not my guy Steve Harvey! But you do, you look for it if you don’t have it right there, it has to exist somewhere, and you are going to be that face as well. I have struggled to think about how we get more people like us in these sports because I personally love it, I love what it brings, I love what it does for you as a person, it gives you character. But how do we get more people involved?
Leon: It is showing what platform it gives you, in a positive way. Could I be going into these schools and sharing my knowledge if I didn’t have this platform of being a GB bobsledder? Potentially, potentially not. Even yourself, how have you used bobsleigh to really be a bigger role model, be a Gladiator, do really well on Strictly. You’ve really shown everyone that people can look at you and go she looks like me, look what she’s done, bobsledder, sprinter, Gladiator, Strictly Come Dancing, that is crazy, and probably I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here soon, it is crazy.
Montell: I feel like people are dying to see me on there! I appreciate those kind words because bobsleigh has the potential to push you out of your comfort zone, and you get used to doing that. When you first heard of bobsleigh, what were your initial reactions?
Leon: I’m going to say it, Cool Runnings, I’m going to have to mention this because bobsledders, some people don’t like it, me personally, I loved it as a film. I think about the subconscious brain sometimes, and this film was the only Disney film at that time that had black people in it, and I connected with it. My subconscious brain, when I got told about bobsleigh, I already said yes to it without even knowing.
Montell: This month is very special for communities for heritage, for culture and what we represent, and I know you mentioned it holds a lot of pride for you. So what does Black History Month mean to you as a celebration?
Leon: We can look at Black History Month as what our great black leaders have done and how they have shaped the future for us now, and we can look at that and appreciate that. But the way I look at it right now, having a child has for sure changed my concept and how I look at this. We said a little bit about bobsled, and are there no black people in bobsled? I am one of them, and I want to be that role model to a kid that looks up to me and thinks 'I want to be like Leon'.
It is my job as a black person now to be that inspiration and not just sit back and let it happen, but I am going to force myself to be this role model, force myself to be this inspiration to the next generation. I really want to inspire them to take as many opportunities as they can, say yes, yes, yes, till they have no time to take any more, that is the way I view it. Every black person in sport should be trying to inspire as many people as possible because even when I go and do these school talks, even if I can inspire one kid, I can sleep at night. It just means so much to me.
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