Every Wednesday in February, JWS celebrates Black History Month by spotlighting a prominent Black figure in women's sports history.
More than 20 years ago, Team USA bobsledder Vonetta Flowers changed the Olympics forever, becoming the first Black athlete — in any sport, from any country — to win a Winter Games gold medal when her team topped the podium in Salt Lake City in at the 2002.
Originally a standout sprinter and long jumper at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Flowers turned her track and field dreams into bobsled success by transitioning to become a brakeman for the 2002 USA team, earning gold in the inaugural Olympic women's bobsled event alongside driver Jill Bakken.
After giving birth to twins, Flowers returned to the bobsled track to compete with driver Jean Racine-Prahm and the pair raced to bronze at the 2004 World Championships before finishing sixth at the 2006 Turin Olympics.
Retiring after the 2006 Games, Flowers blazed a trail for Black women in winter sports all the way to Team USA's 2026 flag bearer, Olympic champion speed skater Erin Jackson.
The 2022 US flag bearer, 41-year-old bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor — already the most decorated Black athlete in Winter Olympics history before competing in her fifth straight Games this month — counts Flowers as an inspiration.
"Vonetta Flowers is the reason I'm here," Meyers Taylor said after winning both silver and bronze in Beijing in 2022.
"It's just been such a long legacy of Black athletes at the Winter Olympics and hopefully it just continues."
