Biography of vonetta flowers early

1973-

American bobsledder

Bobsledder Vonetta Flowers was the first African American to earn a gold medal in the Winter Olympics, and did so in her sport's first women's Olympic event. After a lifetime spent chasing the gold in track and field events, Flowers switched her focus to achieve it on the first-ever women's Olympic bobsled team.

Flowers was born October 29, 1973, in Birmingham, Alabama, and raised with three brothers by her single mother, Bobbie Jeffries.

William Henry Sheppard - Encyclopedia of Alabama

It's safe to say that children growing up in the South are not inclined to bobsledding; the sport is more popular in colder climes. Football is Alabama's sport. She took to track and field events as a child and never missed a practice. At age nine, she ran a 50-yard-dash that was so fast, her coach thought her time belonged to a thirteen-year-old boy.

She was a natural, and she was dedicated. Her coach told her she could be the next great female track star, like Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Vonetta Flowers - Encyclopedia of Alabama HYMI