After months of sacrifice, Black bobsleigh athlete alleges racism in Olympic team selection

After he gave up the gridiron for the ice, Shaquille Murray-Lawrence says his dream to compete for Canada at this year's Beijing Olympics was thwarted by systemic discrimination within Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton.

"I gave this sport everything that I had. I gave my country everything I had. I gave the organization everything I had. I made the ultimate sacrifice and I got screwed in the end," said Murray-Lawrence, a former professional football player who was recruited to join the national bobsleigh team two years ago.

Despite posting overall better performance results, Murray-Lawrence says his spot was given to a "walk-on" athlete who never even competed with his eventual Olympic teammates until the Beijing Games.

Since joining the team in 2020, Murray-Lawrence has raced for Canada in the four-man bobsleigh event 11 times. As the brakeman and the last man to hop in the sled, he helped push his team to seven gold and two silvers while competing in North America and Europe.

He also helped Canada qualify a third four-man sled for the Beijing Olympics — a rare feat in the sport in which powerhouse Germany was the only other country to do so.

His main rival was Jay Dearborn, another CFL player. A snapshot of how the two stack up against each other is seen in the performance records tracked by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF).

Dearborn competed in just five races in the past two years, and his best finish was fifth place in the four-man sled event, racing with Canada's best pilot.

The two athletes have similar profiles — but with one glaring difference.

"When one athlete is white and one athlete is Black, you know, do we see past that? Do we say, 'Oh, no, that's normal.' Or is there something deeply rooted?" asked Murray-Lawrence.

The allegations of racism are putting BCS under increased scrutiny just weeks after the sport organization was called out for its "toxic culture" in an open letter signed by 90 current and former national bobsled and skeleton athletes. 

The letter stated that BCS policies had "deeply held biases, resulting in an environment that is anti-competition … and ensure in many cases that only the athletes who fit into the 'BCS ideal' will ever have the opportunity to compete."

It also called for the resignation of BCS president and CEO Sarah Storey and high-performance director Chris Le Bihan.

Many of the signatories chose to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution or losing their spot on national teams.

But two other bobsledders, veterans Cynthia Appiah and Neville Wright, are breaking their silence. They tell CBC that Murray-Lawrence is just the latest example of systemic racism within the national bobsled organization.