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Sporting Witness: Vonetta Flowers: The first black Winter Olympic champion

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Vonetta Flowers - the first black Winter Olympic champion

03/02/2022 GMT

Vonetta Flowers: The first black Winter Olympic champion

BBC World Service - Sporting Witness, Vonetta Flowers: The first black Winter Olympic champion

How the American bobsledder made history at the 2002 games in Utah

How the American bobsledder made history at the 2002 games in Utah.

Vonetta Flowers became the first black athlete to win a Winter Olympic gold, when her US pair won the two-woman Bobsleigh event in 2002. Flowers started her career as a sprinter and long-jumper, but switched to bobsledding after failing to make the American summer Olympic team. She was a natural for the brake-woman role and formed a successful team with driver, Jill Bakken. Vonetta Flowers speaks to Iain Mackness. The programme is a Made-In-Manchester production.

(Photo: Vonetta Flowers celebrating her Olympic victory in 2002. Credit: Getty Images)

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