For most athletes, learning that you will be competing in the 2014 Winter Olympics is the best possible news to receive in regard to your sport. But what about those who have been accepted, yet cannot afford to pay the costs required for competition?

This was the case for the Jamaican Bobsled Team.

After qualifying for the event, the team was left wondering how they would be able to cover the travel and competition expenses that come to about $80,000, according to sled driver Winston Watts.

While the team did not take their cause to an online, crowd-funding website, someone else did.

Lincoln Wheeler is one of the fans who wants to see the two-man bobsled team make it to Sochi, Russia, which encouraged him to create a fundraising campaign on Crowdtilt.com—a campaign that has already raised $20,000.

Wheeler is supporting the cause that reminds many of the 1993 movie Cool Runnings, mainly because zero funds have been contributed by the Jamaica Olympic Association or private investors. To support his team, Watts has been digging into his own pockets in order to fly the team to the United States for qualifying events.

“I just about get by financially. Beg, scrape—it’s hard,” said Watts, according to the Crowdtilt.com page. “I’ve got headaches a lot of times man, believe you me.”

When the fundraiser was first launched, the team had no idea about it.

General Secretary of the Jamaican Bobsleigh Federation Chris Stokes said he had never heard of Crowdtilt, and the link to the page was sent to him by an acquaintance. He then needed to determine if the fundraiser was legitimate.

It was.

“I was surprised because we have a lot of support out there,” Stokes said. “It was encouraging that people are willing to go that far to help.”

The spokesman from Crowdtilt who verified the fundraiser said he believes it has the possibility to reach its goal.

“If it continues to go viral and especially over the week start to spread I think there’s a solid chance it can hit the $80,000 Winston Watts and the Jamaican bobsled team said they wanted to raise,” Ajay Mehta, a spokesman for Crowdtilt, told USA Today Sports.

The campaign is open for eight more days.

In addition to Wheeler’s campaign, the Jamaican Bobsleigh Federation has launched its own fundraiser on Indiegogo.com, which has raised about $7,000 so far.

Update 1-21: The Crowdtilt campaign has shattered Wheeler’s original goal as of Tuesday morning, raising $112,477 for the team as 7:20 a.m. EST.

ActionHub’s Marty Basch spoke to Winston Watts on the phone earlier today. The following is a summary of his interview with Watts.

All the attention has caught Watts off guard.

“This really has surprised me,” he said during a phone interview. “I can’t believe how people are willing to help us and the Jamaican Bobsled Team. We appreciate this very much, that they are willing to help us fulfill our dream.”

Watts is half of the two-person team. He’s the pilot, also called the driver or captain, and is the first person to jump into the sled. The other athlete, Marvin Dixon, is the brakeman.

Watts is a naturalized American living in Evanston, Wyoming, who trains in Park City, Utah.

He has been to the Olympics three times. He, along with Lascelles Brown, competed in the Salt Lake City games in 2002. They finished 28th. Brown went on to Olympic glory and won a silver and bronze medal while competing for the Canadian team, as he married a Canadian woman.

It would be Dixon’s first Olympics.

It’s now been 12 years since Jamaica had a bobsled team in the Olympics. Watts retired from the sport, but decided to return to the icy track for a shot at competing before the world.

At 47, he would be one of the oldest bobsled pilots in Olympic history.

Watts laughed when his age was brought up, but he also noted he may prove inspirational to older athletes.

“I hope some of the sports magazines see the shape I’m in so I can show the folks my age,” he said. “You can be my age and still be in shape and still compete.”

Watts moved to Evanston with his family in 2004 and took to working the oil fields. But he still watched bobsled races in Park City, about an hour’s drive away from his southwestern Wyoming home.

Watts eventually returned to the sport and raced in venues like Park City, Calgary and Lake Placid, New York.

Watts is at the gym daily, sometimes twice a day, and six days a week.

“This was a long season with a lot  of hard work. Sometimes I’ll sit around after training. You’re so tired.”

But Watts is hoping the training will pay off.

“Now is the time to do some fine tuning, to deal with the explosive part of it,” he said. “This gets you ready for the Olympics.”

Watts reiterated several times how much he appreciates the support he has received from the public.

“We need help,” he said. “Don’t be afraid to donate. We appreciate it. Even if you have nothing to donate, we appreciate the support of the people getting behind us.”

Watts has been fielding lots of media attention since the story broke. He didn’t have time to check how much had been donated.

“I haven’t seen or heard anything, ” he said. “I’ve just been on the telephone. I’ve just been dealing with the media.”

Image is a screenshot of Crowdtilt.com's "Help the Jamaican Bobsled team get to Sochi!" page