Birmingham native Vonetta Flowers is an American bobsledder. Originally a track and field star, in 2000 she turned her attention to bobsledding and quickly became the top brake woman in the U.S. At the 2002 Winter Olympics, Vonetta Flowers and teammate Jill Bakken won the Gold Medal in Women’s Bobsled, making Flowers the first black athlete to win a Gold Medal in the Winter Olympics. Flowers is a member of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

 

 

 

Photos courtesy of: Alamy, Getty Images, University of Alabama at Birmingham Archives