Women'Sports Wire

(February 20, 2002)

USA takes gold in women's bobsled


	By Michael Clevenger, USA TODAY
	Jill Bakken, left, and Vonetta Flowers captured the bobsled gold.

PARK CITY UT (February 20, 2002) Bobsledders Jill Bakken and Vonetta Flowers, the forgotten American team that was overshadowed by a never-ending soap opera, rode into the spotlight Tuesday.

With Bakken driving, they took an historic ride — make that two — in the USA-2 sled to win the gold medal in the women's bobsled competition.

They were the first medals ever awarded in the women's bobsled in the Olympics, and Flowers also became the first black athlete to win a gold medal in the Winter Games.

Also, they outshone the USA-1 sled that had gotten all the pre-Olympic publicity.

Bakken and Flowers had the fastest times in each heat to compile a two-run time of 1 minute, 37.76 seconds at Utah Olympic Park.

Germany 1 finished .30 seconds behind the U.S. sled, and Germany 2, piloted by Susi-Lisa Erdmann, was .53 seconds slower than the winner.

The USA I sled, with driver Jean Racine, who found herself in the middle of a controversy when she dropped her friend, Jen Davidson, as brakeman and replaced her with Gea Johnson, finished fifth. They were .97 seconds slower than the gold-medal team.

"Jill and I tried to stay out of the soap opera (the Racine controversy)," said Flowers, a former All-American track athlete at the University of Alabama Birmingham and now a coach. "Our goal was to win a medal. A lot of people saw us as 'the other team.' We had to prove a lot of people wrong."

Bakken said she was nervous: "I'm always nervous, even before practice runs. If I'm not nervous, I'm in trouble. I knew we needed solid, clean runs. I was thinking of how to get the sled down the track clean."

After the sled crossed the finish line, Bakken held her arms high in the air as the team was greeted by enthusiastic U.S. fans, including a big contingent of family and friends. They were waving flags and ringing cowbells.

Bakken, a member of the U.S. National Guard and a former soccer player at Oregon State, and Racine hugged at the finish line.

"I'm so proud of you," Racine told Bakken.

"I had a ton of relatives, it was awesome," Bakken said. "I can't see too well and I didn't know we won until we got closer to the timing eye."

Flowers could see that she was a gold medalist. "When I saw (the time), my heart dropped," said Flowers. "What can I say? It is a dream come true to win a gold medal for your country."

Bakken could hardly contain her excitement: "It's an amazing feeling. The Germans are tough teams to beat."

The U.S. hasn't won an Olympics bobsled medal since 1956, when the men's four-man team of Arthur Tyler, William Dodge, Charles Thomas Butler and James Lamy won the bronze at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

[Source: Mel Antonen, USA TODAY]