The 'other' U.S. team stuns the field to win bobsled gold

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) _ Jill Bakken and Vonetta Flowers stood behind their bright red bobsled ready to begin their final, furious push to history. <br><br>In matching bodysuits, they stared out through

Wednesday, February 20th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) _ Jill Bakken and Vonetta Flowers stood behind their bright red bobsled ready to begin their final, furious push to history.

In matching bodysuits, they stared out through the visors of their black helmets at the track and pounded each other's fists as if to say, ``Let's do it.''

And they did, flying down the ice chute at near 80 mph to stun the field Tuesday night and win the inaugural women's Olympic bobsled race with a two-run time of 1 minute, 37.76 seconds.

No one had really given them a chance. They weren't even supposed to be the best U.S. team.

Now they are Olympic champions, and Flowers is the first black athlete ever to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics.

``A lot of people saw us as the 'other' team,'' Flowers said. ``We came here to prove people wrong.''

The victory by USA-2 broke a 46-year drought in the sport for the United States and upset Jean Racine and USA-1, which had received all the attention and hype leading up to the Olympics.

``I don't even know what to feel,'' Bakken said. ``It's amazing.''

She and Flowers also beat the two strong German teams, which had won every World Cup race in the 2001-02 season.

Sandra Prokoff and Ulrike Holzner took silver in Germany-1 in 1:38.06. Susi Erdmann and Nicole Herschmann, also of Germany, won the bronze in 1:38.29.

For the 28-year-old Flowers it was a poignant moment. A track star at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, she had other dreams, but two knee operations and ankle surgery ended that.

Then came a call in December to try out for the bobsled team.

``I'm so happy,'' Flowers said. ``I have truly been blessed to come into this sport and pick it up so fast. I never thought I would be here. My goal was to make the Summer Olympics. God had a different plan for me.''

The United States was a powerhouse in the sport in its early days. But it had not won an Olympic bobsled medal since Arthur Tyler took the four-man bronze in 1956 in Cortina, Italy, and had not won gold since his brother, Francis, took the four-man in 1948 at St. Moritz.

``We feel honored to break the streak,'' Flowers said. ``Hopefully, we can go on and on and on.''

Racine and her new brakewoman, Gea Johnson, who competed with a severely strained hamstring, finished fifth in 1:38.73.

``America was on the podium today, and that was the goal,'' said a dejected Racine, in tears as USA-2 slid past to victory. ``We didn't win, but America did.''

Racine, of Waterford, Mich., was supposed to be America's hope, she but ran into problems.

After dominating the World Cup tour for two years with Jen Davidson, her best friend, Racine suddenly was unable to win. In December, she replaced her with Johnson, a former heptathlete from Arizona with a shaky past. Johnson once served a four-year suspension after testing positive for anabolic steroids.

The German teams with the big drivers _ Erdmann is 6-foot-2 and 170 pounds, and Prokoff is 5-11 and 175 _ were also favored. Their heft meant they would be pushing lighter sleds, a distinct advantage on a track that demands a powerful push.

And it appeared that would be the case as Prokoff and Holzner broke the track push record on their first run with a time of 5.32 seconds. Undaunted, Flowers helped propel USA-2 to a 5.31 second start record.

That was only slightly better than Prokoff, but Bakken is a skilled driver with hundreds of runs on the Olympic track in the city where she lives. She avoided the mistakes that Prokoff made on the lower portion of the 16-turn course and gained a significant lead of 0.29 seconds.

``I didn't want to count anyone out,'' Bakken said. ``I knew we had a good lead, but it didn't matter. Any one of the other teams could have had a great run.''

After the first run, the Americans had a premature celebration, with big hugs and big smiles. Two coaches joined in and scores of fans, including Bakken's mother, screamed encouragement.

In their second run, Prokoff and Holzner broke the start record again and finished in a solid 48.96 seconds, putting the pressure on Bakken and Flowers.

Tension built in the final moments before their second run, the last of the night.

``I'm always nervous,'' she said. ``I'm nervous before a practice run. Anytime. It's normal for me.''

She and Flowers completed their second run in 48.95 seconds, 0.30 ahead of Prokoff and Holzner. The victory set off a wild celebration at the finish line as the capacity crowd of 15,000 roared.

``I don't see very well,'' Bakken said. ``I didn't know we had won until we got close to the timing clock.''

The Germans had developed the strongest start, and the results were stunning. Prokoff won five races and Erdmann won the other three in the 2001-02 season, with Erdmann taking the overall title.

The powerful Johnson was expected to give Racine the edge she was lacking at the start, but the chronic hamstring problem flared up in Johnson's left leg in the days leading up to the race and hampered their start. Only two sleds in the field of 15 had worse starts.