Vonetta Flowers (; born October 29, 1973) is an American

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. At the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...

, Flowers became the first African American and the first Black athlete from any country to win a gold medal at a

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...

Career

Flowers was a star sprinter and long jumper at the

University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a public research university in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. Founded in 1969 and part of the University of Alabama System, UAB has grown to be the state's largest employer, with more than ...

, and originally aspired to make the Summer Olympics. After several failed attempts, Flowers turned to bobsledding, and found success as a brakewoman almost immediately. At the

, she, along with driver

Jill Bakken Jill Bakken (born January 25, 1977) is an American Olympic bobsledder who has competed since 1994. As the driver, she and partner Vonetta Flowers won the gold medal in Bobsleigh at the 2002 Winter Olympics for the U.S. Bakken's best Bobsleigh W ...

, won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

in the two-woman event, becoming the first African American woman to win a gold medal in the

. After the Salt Lake City Games, Flowers gave birth to twins and took some time off from the sport. In 2003, she returned to competition with new driver

Jean Prahm Jean Prahm (formerly Jean Racine, born September 20, 1978) is an American bobsledder who competed from 1996 to 2006. She won three medals in the two-woman event at the FIBT World Championships with two silvers (2000, 2001) and a bronze ( ...

. Flowers and Prahm competed in the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, finishing sixth. Flowers also won the bronze medal in the two-woman event at the 2004 FIBT World Championships in

Königssee The Königssee () is a natural lake in the southeast Berchtesgadener Land district of the German state of Bavaria, near the Austrian border. Most of the lake is within the Berchtesgaden National Park. Description Situated within the Bercht ...

. She retired from competition after the 2006 Winter Olympics. In December 2010, she was elected to the

Alabama Sports Hall of Fame The Alabama Sports Hall of Fame (ASHOF) is a state museum located in Birmingham, Alabama, dedicated to communicating the state’s athletic history. The museum displays over 5,000 objects related to athletes who were born in Alabama or earned fam ...

. She was inducted as a member of the Class of 2011 in May. Since retiring from competition in 2006, Flowers has been living in Jacksonville, Florida with her husband, Johnny, and her three sons.

References

2006 bobsleigh two-woman results

FIBT profileOfficial website

Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2011
1973 births Living people African-American track and field athletes American female bobsledders Bobsledders at the 2002 Winter Olympics Bobsledders at the 2006 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in bobsleigh Sportspeople from Birmingham, Alabama University of Alabama at Birmingham alumni American female sprinters American female long jumpers Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics People from Helena, Alabama 21st-century African-American sportswomen 20th-century African-American sportswomen 20th-century American sportswomen UAB Blazers women's track and field athletes 21st-century American sportswomen {{US-Winter-Olympic-medalist-stub