An Inclusive Litany

3/25/02

For her performance in the women's bobsled event, Vonetta Flowers was the first black person ever to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympics. But of course commentators could not phrase it that way, so at least one declared that Flowers was "the first African American from any country to win gold at the Winter Olympics."

[Ed.: A commentator at the subsequent World Figure Skating Championships described the members of an American pairs team, one raised in Russia, and the other a "native American." My wife and I had to talk that one over for a little while.]