When you think of Jamaica these days, you may think of a sunny tropical island, home of the late reggae singer Bob Marley. And you may even think of three-time Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter who proved in Beijing in 2008 that he’s the fastest man on Earth.

By the conclusion of the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, you may have to add another ultrafast Jamaican Olympian to your list. Errol Kerr, 23, is making his first Olympic appearance as the sole member of the Jamaica Ski Team.

You read that correctly — Jamaica Ski Team.

Now if that surprises you, consider this: The Jamaica Ski Team coach is a Bendite, Eric Holmer, who grew up on the slopes of Mount Bachelor as a long-time ski team member with the Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation.

“Errol was actually part of the U.S. Western Region Alpine Ski Team, and we met doing NorAm and Europa Cup downhill races together before he switched over to skiercross a few years ago,” explains Holmer, who was asked by Kerr to coach him as he makes his Olympic bid.

Holmer says he’s heard all the jokes about a tropical island with no snow having a ski team. And he knows people are making the connection with the 1988 Olympic Jamaica Bobsled Team, whose adventures became the basis of the movie “Cool Runnings.”

But Holmer says there’s a big difference between the Jamaica Ski Team and that four-man bobsled team.

“The difference is, Errol is actually very, very good — this isn’t the first time he’s seen snow,” says Holmer. “He actually has a good chance of winning a medal in skiercross.

“Last season, he was 10th in the (Ski Cross) World Championships,” Holmer adds as he looks around for a wooden post to knock on so as not to jinx his skier.

“Ski cross,” as the sport is billed on the Olympic schedule, is a relatively new alpine sport. It is a hair-raising freestyle event in which four skiers go head-to-head down a challenging slope that includes banked corners, tight turns, jumps, steep curves, wave tracks and tabletops. The objective is to get down to the finish first without wiping out.

Ski cross is making its Olympic debut at the Vancouver Games, and Holmer and Kerr fully expect that the exposure to millions of television viewers will generate a lot of excitement for the new sport.

“It’s very exciting to watch, because skiercross racers have to be skilled skiers with speed, who can ski freestyle terrain features with three other racers all at the same time going down the same course,” explains Holmer, 29, who as a former alpine racer with the Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation knows something about speed.

“Errol was a downhill and Super-G specialist, so he knows speed,” says Holmer. “And in skiercross you can reach speeds of 55 miles per hour. Combine that with the tabletops and roller features on the course, and that’s the thrill factor in skiercross.”

Kerr, a native of Truckee, Calif., where he still resides, grew up skiing in the Lake Tahoe area. With a Jamaican father and an American mother, he holds dual citizenship. Kerr still has some family in Jamaica, including a half brother.

Last summer, Kerr and Holmer toured the island with a video of Kerr racing ski cross. That introduction, according to Holmer, left some Jamaicans scratching their heads in wonder. But for the most part, Holmer says, the entire island really got into it.

“Skiing for Jamaica, you really feel you’re bringing the whole island with you,” says Kerr. “This (Jamaica) is the land of my father, it’s in my DNA, and it feels wonderful to represent this little island on the world stage.

“Since I was a young boy, I always wanted to ski and represent Jamaica,” he continues. “But to be taken seriously on the world stage (in skiing), I had to come up through the U.S. pipeline.”

Nothing is more integral for an Olympic athlete than a coach who can prepare an athlete to peak at the right time, and guide the athlete through the literal ups and downs of the sport.

During the interview for this story at his family’s ski shop in Bend, Holmer is wearing his green soft-shell Jamaica Ski Team jacket and hat. He good-naturedly explains that he is not only the Jamaica Ski Team’s head coach, but also its lead van driver, travel agent and chief ski technician — the latter duty demanding the skills he has honed in his family’s business, The Race Place.

“It was a bit of a cultural shock when I first came to skiercross as a coach, because it’s a different protocol than downhill — you’re not looking for the same thing as you would on a downhill course,” Holmer explains. “You have to start looking for passing zones, places where you can draft out of a turn, or slingshot past another skier. You need to analyze the terrain. You want less air time so you can go faster, and you have to have a good start out of the gate.”

To perfect that all-important start, Kerr built a ski cross dual starting gate in the front yard of his home in Truckee.

“When I was younger, my mom bought me a welding torch to keep me out of trouble, and it actually taught me a life skill,” says Kerr. “So I welded together my own start gate. The start is critical in skiercross racing — you have to get out in front first. I also built my own snow-making machine for that start ramp, too.”

Both Kerr and Holmer have found that sponsorship money is down due to the weak economy. But the team has caught the eye of Atomic Skis, and of Alpine Meadows Ski Resort in the Lake Tahoe area, who are helping the skier and his coach get to Vancouver.

Jamaica Ski Team also received a major sponsorship deal with the Spyder skiwear company, which immediately saw the marketing potential of Kerr and produced a complete line of Jamaica national team gear. (Reportedly, that gear is selling fast at The Race Place.)

Should Kerr win a medal in Vancouver, Jamaica Ski Federation President Richard Salm says it would be the first Winter Olympics medal the island nation has ever won.

Salm explains how Kerr became Jamaica’s one-man Olympic ski team:

“Errol came to our attention when his mother, Catherine Kerr, wrote a letter about her son’s desire to possibly represent Jamaica,” Salm recalls.

Salm says the Jamaica Ski Federation was immediately interested. And after reviewing his U.S. alpine results as both a downhill racer and a ski cross racer, the federation agreed that Kerr should represent Jamaica.

Salm insists that his nation’s winter athletes should not be dismissed.

“The Jamaica bobsled team came back at the Lillehammer Winter Olympics (in 1994) and placed 14th, ahead of the United States, France and Russia,” Salm recalls. “Not a lot of people know that fact. We didn’t win a medal then, but I hear Errol has a very good chance, and our bobsled team is on track to qualify for these Olympics too.”

At every Olympics there is a team or an athlete who captures the people’s hearts and imagination. This year, could it be the ski team representing the Caribbean island nation of Jamaica?

“You should be afraid of us,” says Holmer confidently. “There’s no reason Errol can’t medal at these Olympics.”

Holmer and Kerr expect to be marching in the Olympic opening ceremony under the Jamaican flag on Feb. 12 in Vancouver.

“The thing my father always emphasized is: Failure is not an option,” says Kerr, whose father passed away from diabetes when Errol was 12 years old.

“I’m proud to be a Jamaican, and you know what? I want to show the world what happens when you take a pair of skis and let them see how far your dreams can take you.”