Golden Dreams

A lot of girls dream of competing in the Olympics. Some imagine themselves flipping through the air and sticking the landing. Others imagine slicing through water in record time or gliding across ice and completing the perfect combination: triple salchow, triple toe loop. Vonetta Flowers grew up dreaming of flying down a track and breaking the tape. “My first coach told me I could be the next [track and field legend] Jackie Joyner Kersey, and I believed him,” she says.

Almost 20 years later, those dreams of Olympic glory came true in a way Vonetta never anticipated when she became the first African American to win a medal at the Winter Olympics — a gold medal in women’s bobsled at the 2002 games in Salt Lake City. “I always dreamed of being in the Olympics, but it was always the Summer Olympics I pictured,” she laughs. “God obviously had other plans.”

Twists and Turns
As a young woman, Vonetta’s running speed propelled her to the University of Alabama at Birmingham on a full-ride scholarship. She became one of the school’s most decorated student athletes and the first person in her family to graduate from college. She had her first opportunity to try out for the Olympic track and field team in 1996 as a 22-year-old college senior. But ankle injuries leading up to the competition contributed to a disappointing 13th place finish.

“I didn’t yet realize I needed God in my life to help me find my purpose and to understand that what He wanted was far greater than anything I could have imagined,” she says.

The following year, Vonetta started attending church with a friend from high school. “I could see a change in my life from the first day,” she says about being introduced to faith. “Before, I had been basically living off my sport, going through each race on my own talent. But suddenly I realized that I could turn it all over to Him. I didn’t have to rely on my talent anymore. I could rely on God.”

Vonetta eventually married fellow athlete and pastor’s kid Johnny Flowers. Bolstered by a belief that God was in control of her life, and with Johnny at her side serving as coach, Vonetta started training again with hopes of making the 2000 Olympic team. But injury struck again and it looked like her dream was over.

Wait, Put on the Brakes!
Then Johnny saw a flyer encouraging track and field athletes to try out for the USA bobsled team. “All I knew about bobsled was from the movie Cool Runnings. We argued about it, but he pleaded with me to just have fun so we decided to go for it,” she says.

Things took a dramatic turn when Johnny pulled his hamstring in one of the races. “He was like, ‘You have to continue on! You have to live out the dream for the family!’ ” Vonetta laughs. “I’m like, ‘Yeah right!’ I wasn’t into it at all, but I finished up my races for his sake.”

Two weeks later, Vonetta got a phone call: “I’d like you to come to Germany to learn how to push a bobsled.”

The woman offering the invitation was Bonny Warner, a world-class bobsled driver. After several weeks learning alongside other bobsledding hopefuls, Vonetta was offered the position of brakeman in Bonny’s two-person sled. By the end of 2001, the duo ranked No. 2 in the U.S. and No. 3 in the world. It looked like an easy straightaway to the 2002 Winter Olympics. Vonetta’s dream was alive.

Then the situation started to resemble a soap opera.

The day after the team qualified for their second season on the World Cup tour, Bonny called a meeting and announced that she wanted to take another brakeman on tour with her and save Vonetta for the Olympic trials. “I heard this for the first time in a room full of coaches,” Vonetta says. “And I knew that this was her way of kicking me off the team. I needed to be racing to get ready for the Olympics. I told her that if she took the other brakeman to Europe to race I was off the team. And so I was off the team. I went home devastated.”

Who’s the Driver?
For almost two weeks, Vonetta didn’t do anything, mourning once again the loss of her Olympic dreams. But then Johnny stepped in. “He said, ‘God put you in this sport for a reason, so we’re going to start training again,’ ” Vonetta says. “I’m like, ‘Training for what? I’m off the team!’ But he just kept saying it. ‘God put you in this sport for a reason.’ ” She was dubious, but Vonetta started training again. “I’d forgotten who’s in charge,” she says. “It’s not me; God’s in charge of everything and He knows how everything will turn out.” Within a week of returning to the track, she received a phone call from Jill Bakken, the No. 2 driver in the world, asking Vonetta to join her team. Together the duo made it to the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. But the night before their competition, Vonetta got another phone call. Jean Racine, the No. 1 driver, asked Vonetta to leave Jill and join her sled. Was she tempted? “No, I was loyal to Jill. And I had been loyal to Bonny before that, even though she wasn’t winning all the races,” Vonetta says. “Whether we’d have finished first or last, I would have been happy with my decision to stay.” With all the attention on Jean Racine’s heavily favored team and a strong German contingent, Vonetta and Jill stunned the Olympic crowd by jumping out to a big lead after the first of two runs. At the end of their second run down the hill, Vonetta saw the scoreboard and knew she and Jill had won gold even before she got out of the sled. She thought, This isn’t happening. This is a dream!

That might have been what she was thinking, but the first words out of her mouth to reporters were, “I thank God for this because without Him I wouldn’t be here.”

“I think perhaps the most important thing I can say to young women is to be open to change and God’s leading in their lives,” Vonetta says. “If I’d stayed focused solely on track and field, and ignored Johnny’s encouragement to tryout for the bobsled team, I would have missed all this.”

During the 2006 Winter Olympics she had a few more cheerleaders on the sidelines — her 3-year-old twins, Jaden and Jorden, and her current teammate, Jean Racine (with whom she teamed up when Jill took a break from the sport).

“I just put my faith in God and let Him take over. I do my job as far as training and put the rest in His hands.”

On her first ride down a bobsled run: It felt like I’d been placed in a trashcan and thrown down a hill. I was so scared and held on for dear life.

On walking into the stadium during opening ceremonies in Salt Lake City: Before we even got to the stadium we could hear people chanting “U-S-A” and I was already in tears. Winning the gold was great, but walking into the opening ceremonies — with the uniform and our team and flag and everyone chanting —was the highlight of my Olympic experience.

On the media frenzy after she became the first African American to win a medal at the Winter Olympics: Our race was over close to 9 p.m. Right after that we started doing interviews and we didn’t sleep for two days. I don’t remember any of them because I was so tired!

On her secret ambition to be an Olympic gymnast: The girls on the bobsled team have figured out that I love gymnastics. If we’re training somewhere and I find a line — any line, a line in a parking lot even — I’ll get on it and do my balance routine. So the girls pretend to be my coaches and we work on my floor routine and all that. It’s funny.