Vonetta Flowers
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Vonetta Flowers (née Jeffery; born October 29, 1973) is an American bobsledder. In 2002 Winter Olympics, Flowers became the first African American and the first black athlete from any country to win a gold medal at a Winter Olympics.
Career[]
Flowers was a star sprinter and long jumper at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and originally aspired to make the U.S. Summer Olympic Team. After several failed attempts, Flowers turned to bobsledding, and found success as a brakewoman almost immediately. At the 2002 Winter Olympics, she, along with driver Jill Bakken, won the gold medal in the two-woman event, becoming the first African American woman to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympics. 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. Flowers and Prahm competed in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, finishing sixth.
Flowers also won the two-woman event at the 2004 FIBT World Championships in Königssee. She retired from competition after the 2006 Winter Olympics.
In December 2010, she was elected to the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. She was inducted as a member of the Class of 2011 in May.
References[]
- ^ No Sleep in Helena Alabama : The Events of Helena Alabama: Flowers, Watson and Law Retrieved 2014-11-30.
- 2006 bobsleigh two-woman results
- Bobsleigh two-woman Olympic medalists since 2002
- Bobsleigh two-woman world championship medalists since 2000
- FIBT profile
- Official website
- United States Olympic Committee profile
- Alabama Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2011
- 1973 births
- Living people
- African-American female 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 sportspeople
- 21st-century African-American women
- 20th-century African-American sportspeople
- 20th-century African-American women
- American bobsleigh biography stubs
- American Winter Olympic medalist stubs