Courtesy Photo | World Class Athlete Spc. Jill Bakken smiles while answering questions during a...... read more read more
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ARLINGTON, Va. — Former Utah Army Guard member Jill Bakken and her partner, Vonetta Flowers, who won an Olympic gold medal in the bobsled in 2002, have been nominated for the 2009 U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, according to the USA Bobsled and Skelton Federation Web site.
This year's hall of fame class will be determined by fan balloting that runs through June 16 (cast your vote at http://teamusa.org/halloffame).
Bakken was a member of the Army World Class Athlete Program, when she steered her two-seat bobsled to a gold medal Feb. 19, 2002, in the first women's bobsled competition featured in the Olympic Games.
The unheralded USA-2 duo's two-run total time of 1:37.76 seconds at Utah Olympic Park beat two German teams that slid to silver and bronze medals.
At the time, Bakken was the first World Class Athlete Program member ever to win Olympic gold, according to Army officials. Flowers became the first African American ever to win Winter Olympic gold in bobsled. The two were the first Americans to medal in Olympic bobsledding since 1956, when the U.S. men claimed the bronze.
As a member of the Utah Guard's 115th Engineer Group headquarters in Draper, she became an Army world-class athlete after basic and advanced individual training in 2000.
Bakken is an American bobsledding pioneer. Born in Portland, Ore., she attended the first training camp of the fledgling U.S. women's team in 1994, when she was a high school junior. That made her, at 17, the youngest bobsledder in the sport's history.
According to Wikipedia, Bakken is now a driving coach for the Canadian bobsled team.
Finalists for this years' hall of fame class will include five individuals, one team and one Paralympian, as well as three additional individuals: a coach, veteran and special contributor. The two are up against four other teams in the team category and inductees will be revealed in early July.
Distinguished members from previous classes include Olympic legends Muhammad Ali, Peggy Fleming, Jesse Owens, Wilma Rudolph, Bonnie Blair, Eric Heiden, Mark Spitz, Janet Evans and the 1980 U.S. Men's Olympic Ice Hockey Team.
| Date Taken: | 06.08.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 06.08.2009 13:01 |
| Story ID: | 34724 |
| Location: | ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 151 |
| Downloads: | 130 |
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