The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB's Flowers Realizes Olympic Dream, But Not As Expected
1/8/2002 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
Jan. 2, 2002
Most people who know Vonetta Flowers and are familiar with her athletic career would not be surprised to learn that she will representing UAB and the United States in the Olympic games.
As the most celebrated and successful track and field athlete in the history of the UAB athletic program, Flowers spent her entire collegiate career and several years afterward training and competing with her eye on one prize - a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team.
The Birmingham native was a seven time All-American (primarily as a sprinter, long jumper and triple jumper) and despite a series of nagging injures and disappointments in the Olympic Track and Field trials in 1996 and 2000, seemed destined to become UAB's first-ever Olympian.
In December 2001 Flowers did indeed earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team, but you won't see her in the starting blocks on the track in Athens two years from now.
No, UAB's first Olympian (first former student-athlete Olympian, that is -- athletics director Herman Frazier was a track and field gold medalist in 1976) will be in competition in the winter version of the game this February in Salt Lake City.
As a bobsledder.
A bobsledder? From Birmingham?
Absolutely.
It all started at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, where Flowers had qualified to compete in the long jump.
During those trials, the U.S. Bobsled Federation had a testing center and was actively recruiting track and field athletes for test runs. Many bobsled teams recruit their pushers and brakemen from other sports, especially track and field, where speed and strength are a prerequisite for success. The brakeman is usually the fastest person on the team since he or she pushes the sled the longest (the brakeman also applies breaks once the sled crosses the finish line).
Flowers' husband Johnny, also former UAB track and field athlete and football player, noticed the test center and encouraged her to try it just for fun, but she was reluctant to do so. After numerous requests, Flowers agreed to try a test run. With her strength, explosive speed and steely determination, she proved to be a natural, breaking virtually all records for test runs.
The U.S. Bobsled Federation asked her to try out for the team, but Flowers refused the first few offers because she was just beginning her first full-time year as an assistant track and field coach at UAB. They continued to pursue her and after discussions with head track and field coach Brian Funk, she decided to try out.
Flowers went through a number of try-outs in 2001, and was eventually asked to come back to the official try-out in late December for a chance to make one of the two U.S. teams that will compete in the Olympics.
Just when it appeared that Flowers was finally ready to break into the top level of bobsled competition, there was a major snag.
She quit the sport briefly after a conflict with her driver, Bonny Warner. Warner wasn't happy with Flowers and requested another pusher for her team. Flowers accepted this and flew home to Birmingham.
After hearing about the split, Jill Bakken, a native of Park City, Utah, asked Flowers to push for her in the trials and after much debate, she accepted and returned to Utah to the final trials. Despite the short preparation time, the two had an immediate chemistry.
"We get along great -- she's (Bakken) a sweet person," said Flowers after the trials.
"She's a great driver, and we just clicked once we started working together."
At the final trials, Bakken and Flowers dominated the start with the fastest pushes (5:37 and 5:39) and finished with a 1:38.31 combined two-heat time. The duo was just 0.14 seconds back of top finishers Jean Racine and Gea Johnson. Warner's team placed third and did not make the Olympic team.
Flowers was on her way to Salt Lake City and the 2002 Olympic Games.
"It's like a dream come true," said Flowers afterward. "I feel so blessed to have the honor of representing our country."
Flowers and Bakken will compete on the afternoon of Feb. 19. In the women's two-person event, each duo gets two runs in which the times are combined for a total time. There are no heats, no preliminaries, just two runs for the gold.
Flowers and Bakken are heavily favored to medal and are felt to have a shot at winning the gold. Bakken is an experienced driver, and Flowers' physical gifts and extensive experience in elite track and field competition make her one of the top pushers in the sport.
"I feel we have a great chance to medal, which is another dream for me," she said.
"My first dream was to make the team, and now my goal is to win a medal. That would be an honor also."
UAB is also honored to have its first Olympian, and no one is happier for Flowers than her fellow coach and the members of the Blazer track and field team.
"The team and I are extremely proud of Vonetta," said Funk.
"We are proud to have her as our assistant coach and part of our team. Although we want to have her here coaching our team, we understand and would never want to get in the way of her Olympic dreams."
"The winter games sometimes get a poor rap, but this year, we all have a huge interest in the Olympics," Funk continued.
It's going to be neat to see not only a college and my assistant coach, but to see my friend compete for an Olympic gold medal. We are the lucky people behind the scenes that know an Olympic athlete and hopefully, a medalist. In these times with all the terrorist attacks and our country at war, it gives even more special meaning for her to represent our country. I know that she's proud and we're proud to know that we have a person like Vonetta representing our country."
BOBSLEDDING NOTES Bobsledding is a sport in which athletes sprint 50 yards pushing a fiberglass tube attached to steel runners and then jump in for the ride of their lives careening down a steep, curvy, icy track at 90 miles per hour...the Park City, Utah, course is 1,340 meters long with a 104-meter vertical drop... it is not considered overly "technical," i.e., there are not a lot of tricky twists and turns that throw a driver off... a lot of a sled's success is based on the start... the "push time" at the start is a crucial factor determining who crosses the finish line first...a tenth of a second shaved off "push time" can earn a third of a second off the entire run.
