Aja L. Evans (born May 12, 1988) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

Olympic medalist

bobsled Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of 2 to 4 athletes make timed speed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobs ...

der (two-woman) who competes as a brakeman. At her Chicago public high school she was an All-American track & field City Champion in sprints and shot put. As a college athlete she was an All-American and

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

Champion shot putter.

Career

Aja Evans began track and field training at

Morgan Park High School Morgan Park High School is a four-year public high school and middle school located in the Morgan Park, Chicago, Morgan Park neighborhood on the far south side of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1916, Morgan Park is a part o ...

on the far south side of

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. She attended

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...

before transferring to the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

. Evans was a college record setting, five-time All-American and three-time Big Ten Champion shot potter at the University of Illinois. Evans began competing in the bobsled after graduation. She was a brakeman for drivers

Jamie Greubel Jamie Greubel Poser (born November 9, 1983) née Greubel is an American bobsledder who won her first Bobsleigh World Cup medal in December 2012. She won the Bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Two-woman Bobsleigh event. Greubel g ...

Elana Meyers Elana Meyers Taylor (born Elana Alessandra Meyers; October 10, 1984) is an American Olympic Bobsleigh, bobsledder and World Champion who has competed since 2007. Born in Oceanside, California, Meyers Taylor was raised in Douglasville, Georgia an ...

, and Jazmine Fenlator in the 2012–2013 World Cup season, earning a bronze in Igls and a silver at the Sochi. In the 2013–2014 World Cup season, she earned silver at Calgary and gold at Park City. Evans was named to the U.S. Olympic bobsled team for the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

on January 19, 2014.TeamUSA.org – 2014 U.S. Olympic Bobsled Team Announced
January 19, 2014. On February 19, 2014, Evans, along with

, won the bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics. In 2023, Evans filed a lawsuit alleging that she was groped and inappropriately photographed by her team's chiropractor over a period of nearly a decade. Evans' attorney compared the doctor's conduct to that of

Larry Nassar Lawrence Gerard Nassar (born August 16, 1963) is an American former family medicine osteopathic physician and convicted sex offender. From 1996 to 2014, he was the team doctor of the United States women's national gymnastics team, where he use ...

, but he denied the accusations and labeled them “detestable”.

Family

Evans comes from a family of athletes. Her father, Fred, became the first black national collegiate champion in swimming when he competed for Chicago State. Her brother, also named

Fred Fred or FRED may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Fred ...

, is a defensive tackle for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

. Her uncle is retired

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

outfielder

Gary Matthews Gary Nathaniel Matthews Sr. (born July 5, 1950), nicknamed "Sarge", is an American former professional baseball left fielder, who played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). After his playing days, Matthews was a color commentator for Phil ...

and her cousin is baseball player Gary Matthews, Jr. “I’m a product of Chicago,” said Evans. “Showing people that this black girl from Chicago came to the Winter Olympic sport and really did some amazing things, and it was all because I had that will to win and it was my dream."

References

External links

* * *
Aja Evans
at USA Bobsled-Skeleton * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Aja 1988 births Living people American female bobsledders Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in bobsleigh Bobsledders at the 2014 Winter Olympics Bobsledders at the 2018 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics University of Illinois alumni UNLV Rebels women's track and field athletes Illinois Fighting Illini women's track and field athletes People from Homewood, Illinois Sportspeople from Cook County, Illinois Bobsledders from Chicago 21st-century American sportswomen 21st-century African-American sportswomen