Jill Bakken (born January 25, 1977) is an American Olympic

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 who has competed since 1994. As the driver, she and partner Vonetta Flowers won the gold medal in

Bobsleigh at the 2002 Winter Olympics Three bobsleigh events were competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics, at Utah Olympic Park. The competition took place between February 16 and February 23, 2002. For the first time since 1932, Olympic bobsleigh added a new event, with the first eve ...

for the U.S. Bakken's best

Bobsleigh World Cup The Bobsleigh World Cup is an annual bobsleigh competitions. It has taken place since the 1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games (Serbo-Croatian language, Serbo-Croatian and Slovene lan ...

season finish was second in the two-woman event in 1999–2000. Bakken was a Specialist in the Utah Army National Guard and sponsored by the Army World Class Athlete Program at the time she won gold. Bakken is a graduate of

Lake Washington High School Lake Washington High School (LWHS) is a four-year public high school in Kirkland, Washington, a suburb east of Seattle. History and facilities Lake Washington opened as Kirkland High School (also called Union “A” High School) in 1922, the ...

and an alumna of

Eastern Washington University Eastern Washington University (EWU) is a public university in Cheney, Washington, United States. It shares its satellite campus in Spokane, Washington with Washington State University. Founded in 1882, the university is academically divided in ...

, transferring there in 2005. She has also attended the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

and

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

, playing one season of

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

as a defender at the latter. Bakken is now a driving coach for the

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

bobsleigh 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 Bobslei ...

team and is married to Florian Linder who is also a coach for the Canadian bobsled team.

References

External links

Bobsleigh two-woman Olympic medalists since 2002

CNNSi.com February 20, 2002 article on Bakken and Flowers victory in the two-woman event.ESPN.com February 19, 2002 article on Bakken's gold.FIBT profile
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US_Navy_020219-N-3995K-304_Gold_Medal_Women_BobSledders_1

1977 births Living people American female bobsledders American military Olympians Bobsledders at the 2002 Winter Olympics Eastern Washington University alumni Olympic gold medalists for the United States in bobsleigh Sportspeople from Portland, Oregon United States Army soldiers University of Utah alumni Utah National Guard personnel Sportspeople from Kirkland, Washington Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics American women's soccer players Soccer players from Oregon Women's association football defenders Oregon State Beavers women's soccer players U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program 21st-century American sportswomen {{US-Winter-Olympic-medalist-stub