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Last Updated: Sep 28th, 2008 - 20:28:51
Olympics
Olympic History- Vonetta Flowers Takes Gold in 2002
By Sarah Lane
Jan 19, 2008, 17:27 PST
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Vonetta Flowers
Vonetta Flowers
Vonetta Flowers became the
first African-American to win a gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics, as part of a
two-woman bobsled team. On
February 19th, 2002, Flowers and her partner, Jill Bakken, became
the first American women to win a gold medal in the bobsled competition. This is also the first bobsled medal
for any American since 1948.
Bakken and Flowers, driver and brake-woman respectively, had a two-run
combined time of 1 minute, 37.76 seconds.
Born in Birmingham,
Alabama, Flowers is 5’6” and weighs 154 lbs. At the age of 28, her goal was to make
the Summer Olympics but she said that God had other plans. Flowers was a track star from the
University of Alabama, Birmingham, but had two knee operations and ankle surgery.
Never in her wildest
dreams did she think that after answering an ad for bobsledding, she would
become one of the most highly recognized athletes in the sport. This was not only a great
accomplishment for the United States, but Vonetta Flowers paved the way for
other African-American athletes to follow suit.
Source: SLOC & Galileo
Olympic
Worksheets - Flowers
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Coloring this bobsled as
it races down the track in record-breaking time.
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Additional Learning Links
United States Bobsled & Skeleton
Federation
From this page you can
access all sorts of cool information on the team members and their
history. Click on athletes, then
on Bobsled, then on Vonetta Flowers for her biography.
Source: SLOC
© Copyright 2008 by Classbrain.com
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