Without a driver two months before the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, brakeman Vonetta Flowers eventually landed in the USA-2 sled with Jill Bakken. With the hype surrounding gold-medal favorite USA-1, driven by Jean Prahm (née Racine), Bakken/Flowers wasn't expected to generate much hype. But that all changed when the pair set a track record of 48.81 seconds on the first run, taking a substantial lead of .29 of a second. They kept their lead after the second run, giving Flowers the distinction of being the first black athlete to win a gold medal at an Olympic Winter Games. The American medal was the first for a U.S. bobsled team since 1956, and the first gold since 1952.      

Originally thinking she would retire after Salt Lake, and especially after giving birth to twin boys on August 30, 2002, Flowers wound up missing the sport. But when she wanted to return, Bakken was taking time off to rest her injured back and catch up on college coursework. So Flowers teamed up with Prahm for the last two races of the 2002-03 World Cup season, finishing sixth at the 2003 Worlds. After competing the entire next season together, Prahm/Flowers finished second in the 2003-04 World Cup standings and took the bronze medal at the 2004 Worlds. In 2005, the pair was fourth in the World Cup standings and fifth at the world championships. This season, Prahm/Flowers finished fifth in the World Cup.        

Entering the 2002 Olympic season, Flowers and her driver, Bonnie Warner, were one of the world's top tandems. But the day after Flowers helped Warner qualify for the U.S. national team at the trials in October 2001, Warner opted to go with brakeman Gea Johnson instead. So as the World Cup made its way through Europe, Flowers stayed in shape in Alabama. And before the final races of the season in Calgary, she competed in a push-off with the other U.S. brakeman, finishing a close second to Johnson. That prompted Bakken to replace her brakeman, Shauna Rohbock, with Flowers, and in two races that weekend in Calgary, Bakken/Flowers placed fifth both times but had the best 50-meter time in both runs Saturday and the second-best start time in both runs Sunday.        

Although she's an Olympic gold medalist in bobsled, Flowers has deep roots in track and still considers it her favorite sport. A sprinter, hurdler and long jumper during her track career, she was a seven-time All-American at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. A Jackie Joyner-Kersee fan, Flowers was the first member of her family to attend college and graduated with a degree in education. Flowers, whose maiden name is Jeffery, grew up dreaming of going to the Summer Olympics and thought her athletic career was over following disappointments at the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Track and Field Trials.        

At the 2000 Track Trials, her husband saw a sign posted by Warner advertising bobsled tryouts. Johnny thought it'd be a good idea for both of them to try out, but when they arrived in California together, he was injured and wanted Vonetta to humor him by going through with the tryout. She made the team and Johnny, whom she met at UAB when he was a two-sport star in track and football, now serves as her coach.        

After winning gold at the Salt Lake Olympics, where she and Bakken carried the Olympic flag into the Closing Ceremony, Flowers wrote a book, Running on Ice: The Overcoming Faith of Vonetta Flowers. She was also named one of the 50 most inspiring African-Americans by Essence magazine and was given the Wilma Rudolph Athletic Olympian Award.

* In association with SFX Sports