Vonetta Flowers was born October 29, 1973 in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1992, Vonetta graduated from P.D. Jackson Olin High School. She was the first person in her family to go to college. She graduated from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is married to Johnny Mack Flowers, who is also her coach.
Vonetta Flowers was the first black athlete (male or female)--from any country--to ever win an Olympic Winter Games gold medal. In the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Vonetta and Jill Bakken drove USA to an Olympic gold medal, ending the United States' 46-year medal drought in bobsled. The 2-woman bobsled team's time was 1 minute 48 seconds.
Vonetta Flowers was recruited, at the age of nine, out of a group of Jonesboro Elementary School children by Coach DeWitt Thomas, who was looking for the fastest runners. Over the next ten years, Vonetta won almost every race that she entered. During high school, she participated in track and field, volleyball and basketball. After 5 surgeries in eight years, Vonetta had a disappointing performance at the 2000 Olympic Trials and decided to give up her athletic career.
Two days after the disappointing 2000 Olympic Trials, Vonetta's husband, Johnny, spotted a flyer urging Track and Field athletes to tryout for the U.S. bobsled team. Vonetta wasn't interested, but decided to accompany her athelic husband as he tried out for the team. Shortly after the tests started, Johnny pulled his hamstring. Vonetta decided to help him live out his dream by completing the six-item test. She immediately made the team.
Vonetta Flowers quickly became the #1 female bobsledder athlete in the U.S. By the end of her rookie season, Vonetta and her former teammate, Bonny Warner, were ranked 2nd in the US and 3rd in the world. But it was her new partner, Jill Bakken, who slid into history with Vonetta by winning the Gold Medal at the inaugural Women's Olympic bobsled event.
Vonetta Flowers has printed her personal story of how she got to the Olympics in her first book: Running On Ice: The Overcoming Faith Of Vonetta Flowers. She was also named one of Essence Magazine's 50 of the Most Inspiring African-Americans.
Posted By: Siebra Muhammad
Sunday, February 19th 2012 at 4:57PM
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