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Article: U.S. wins bobsled, Flowers earns Olympic first.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- February 19, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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PARK CITY, Utah _ The inaugural Olympic women bobsled competition had become a soap opera, laden with tawdry breakups, so it was only fitting that it would end with an unexpected twist.
Jill Bakken and Vonetta Flowers, the USA2 sled, the team everyone forgot about, the team with no endorsements and no appearances on the David Letterman show, upstaged the USA1 team of Jean Racine and Gea Johnson by breaking Racine's track record and winning the gold medal in 1:37.76.
In the process, Flowers, a retired track and field athlete from Birmingham, Ala., made history by becoming the first black athlete, from any country, male or female, to win a gold medal in ...