Vonetta Flowers as good as gold: former track star is the first Black person to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics - Brief Article

IN 1 minute and 37.76 seconds, Vonetta Flowers' life changed forever. The 28-year-old assistant track and field coach at the University of Alabama-Birmingham entered the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City as an unsung hopeful. But in less than 2 minutes, she made history as the first Black person to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics.

"My heart just dropped," said Flowers after her triumph as a member of the two-person women's bobsled team. "I thought I was dreaming. Tears started to shed ... My dream had come true, to win a gold medal."

The route that Flowers took to get that Olympic gold medal had as many twists and turns as a bobsled run. She had planned originally to win Olympic glory as a long jumper in the 2000 Summer Olympics. But when she failed to qualify in the long jump, she took the advice of her husband, Johnny Flowers, a BlueCross BlueShield official, and tried out for the U.S. bobsled team. The Olympic champion said she couldn't have made it without her college sweetheart. "He coached me in my strength and sprint workouts. We both sacrificed getting up at 5 a.m. to workout before work, and he gave up vacation time to travel with me."

Flowers joined Jill Bakken, the bobsled driver, who was responsible for guiding the sled through the course at speeds of up to 85 mph. Flowers, the brakeman, gave the 400-pound sled its initial push and applied the brakes at the end. The team set a course record of 48.81 seconds in their first run and had 48.95 seconds in their final run. The winning time was the sum of the two runs.

Not only was this the biggest Olympic triumph for Bakken and Flowers; it was also the biggest winter Olympic triumph for African-Americans. Two African-American men, Randy Jones and Garrett Hines, won silver medals as members of the men's bobsled team.

Flowers' Salt Lake City triumph made her a national name. She received a huge welcome home celebration in Birgminham and was invited to address a combined session of the Alabama legislature. She and her husband had hoped to start a family soon after the Olympics--she says they would like to have four to six children but have decided to put that on hold as she takes advantage of the endorsements and appearances that winning an Olympic gold medal offers.

If there's one lesson in all of this, the Olympic champion says, it is "to never give up, because dreams do come true."