Athletes

Introduced to bobsled by responding to a want ad placed by Bonny Warner at the 2000 Olympic Track and Field Trials; Warner needed a track athlete to provide speed and power for fast starts.  With only two weeks of training on how to push a bobsled, Flowers and Warner broke the world start record in October 2000, at Park City, Utah.  Vonetta later switched to driver Jean (Racine) Prahm for latter part of 2002-2003 season.  She is a three-time member of the U.S. Olympic Festival Team, capturing the gold in the long jump in 1994 and the 4x100m relay in 1995 and is a 7-time NCAA All-American track and field athlete at University of Alabama-Birmingham

Her accomplishments also include:

• 2002 Olympics two-woman bobsled gold medalist with teammate Jill Bakken
• First black athlete to win Winter Olympic gold medal
• People magazine selected her for the 2002 “50 Most Beautiful People”
• 2002 USOC Team of the Year (along with teammate Jill Bakken)
• Recipient of the 2002 U.S. Olympic Spirit Award
• Selected with Jill Bakken to carry Olympic flag into 2002 Closing Ceremonies

• Competed in the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy