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http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2006/01/19/ap2462812.html
Most bobsledders headed to the Turin Olympics have Feb. 21 circled on their calendars, the day when the women's gold medal will be decided.
Vonetta Flowers' big day is coming sooner.
Flowers, who won Olympic gold in Salt Lake City four years ago, will learn Monday whether Jorden, one of her 3-year-old twin sons, can hear for the first time.
The boy, born deaf, had surgery in Italy on Dec. 20 to implant electrodes in the hearing area of his brain. So after Flowers races in a World Cup event at St. Moritz, Switzerland, this weekend, she, her husband Johnny and the twins will head to Italy to learn Jorden's fate.
"We will go on Monday to Verona to actually have the device turned on," Flowers said on a conference call from St. Moritz on Thursday. "We're praying that everything is going to be successful and he will be hearing."
Flowers became the first black athlete to win a medal at an Olympic Winter Games when she and driver Jill Bakken guided their sled to victory in 2002, ending what was a 46-year medal drought for the U.S. bobsled program.
She retired briefly following those Olympics to have a family, and learned she was carrying twins shortly after. But five months after Jorden and Jaden were born - they were three months premature - Flowers was back in a bobsled and starting to think about another Olympic run.
"The kids actually came over to Europe when they were 4 months old and we've been traveling with them since then," Flowers said. "And once we found out that my son Jorden had the hearing loss, we started doing research to see what we can do to get him hearing."
That research eventually steered them toward an Italian doctor, Vittorio Colletti, whom Flowers says is the only surgeon in the world performing the procedure - auditory brainstem implant, it's called - on infants and toddlers. Colletti implanted electrodes on part of Jorden's brainstem, and those electrodes will be used to stimulate the hearing pathway and essentially send sound to the boy's brain.
The procedure hasn't yet been approved to be performed on children in the United States. But Flowers met Colletti after racing in Cortina, Italy, last year - and eventually the pieces fell into place for the surgery.
"It's worked out so well," Flowers said. "We just really feel like this was the plan for our lives, to be in bobsled so we can meet Dr. Colletti and Jorden can have his surgery performed."
The operation can cost upwards of $100,000 and isn't covered by insurance, but the Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America - an official sponsor of the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation - announced Wednesday that it is helping to pay a significant portion of the bill.
Flowers will compete with Jean Prahm in Turin, with Shauna Rohbock and Valerie Fleming in the other U.S. sled in the Olympic field. Rohbock is the second-ranked driver in this year's World Cup standings, with Prahm fifth - meaning both are legitimate Olympic medal contenders.
"We've been a very successful team," Prahm said Thursday. "And I think we're all very optimistic that we can have good results in Torino."
Jorden's situation, while dominating his mother's thoughts, apparently hasn't been much of a distraction for Flowers on the ice.
She and Prahm tied for a World Cup win at Lake Placid, N.Y., in November, and are one of only three teams to finish eighth or better in every international event so far this season.
"When I'm on the track, my focus is 100 percent on the track," Flowers said. "And when I leave the track and go home, then I'm focusing on my family. So I'm able to separate the two."
Most bobsledders headed to the Turin Olympics have Feb. 21 circled on their calendars, the day when the women's gold medal will be decided.
Vonetta Flowers' big day is coming sooner.
Flowers, who won Olympic gold in Salt Lake City four years ago, will learn Monday whether Jorden, one of her 3-year-old twin sons, can hear for the first time.
The boy, born deaf, had surgery in Italy on Dec. 20 to implant electrodes in the hearing area of his brain. So after Flowers races in a World Cup event at St. Moritz, Switzerland, this weekend, she, her husband Johnny and the twins will head to Italy to learn Jorden's fate.
"We will go on Monday to Verona to actually have the device turned on," Flowers said on a conference call from St. Moritz on Thursday. "We're praying that everything is going to be successful and he will be hearing."
Flowers became the first black athlete to win a medal at an Olympic Winter Games when she and driver Jill Bakken guided their sled to victory in 2002, ending what was a 46-year medal drought for the U.S. bobsled program.
She retired briefly following those Olympics to have a family, and learned she was carrying twins shortly after. But five months after Jorden and Jaden were born - they were three months premature - Flowers was back in a bobsled and starting to think about another Olympic run.
"The kids actually came over to Europe when they were 4 months old and we've been traveling with them since then," Flowers said. "And once we found out that my son Jorden had the hearing loss, we started doing research to see what we can do to get him hearing."
That research eventually steered them toward an Italian doctor, Vittorio Colletti, whom Flowers says is the only surgeon in the world performing the procedure - auditory brainstem implant, it's called - on infants and toddlers. Colletti implanted electrodes on part of Jorden's brainstem, and those electrodes will be used to stimulate the hearing pathway and essentially send sound to the boy's brain.
The procedure hasn't yet been approved to be performed on children in the United States. But Flowers met Colletti after racing in Cortina, Italy, last year - and eventually the pieces fell into place for the surgery.
"It's worked out so well," Flowers said. "We just really feel like this was the plan for our lives, to be in bobsled so we can meet Dr. Colletti and Jorden can have his surgery performed."
The operation can cost upwards of $100,000 and isn't covered by insurance, but the Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America - an official sponsor of the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation - announced Wednesday that it is helping to pay a significant portion of the bill.
Flowers will compete with Jean Prahm in Turin, with Shauna Rohbock and Valerie Fleming in the other U.S. sled in the Olympic field. Rohbock is the second-ranked driver in this year's World Cup standings, with Prahm fifth - meaning both are legitimate Olympic medal contenders.
"We've been a very successful team," Prahm said Thursday. "And I think we're all very optimistic that we can have good results in Torino."
Jorden's situation, while dominating his mother's thoughts, apparently hasn't been much of a distraction for Flowers on the ice.
She and Prahm tied for a World Cup win at Lake Placid, N.Y., in November, and are one of only three teams to finish eighth or better in every international event so far this season.
"When I'm on the track, my focus is 100 percent on the track," Flowers said. "And when I leave the track and go home, then I'm focusing on my family. So I'm able to separate the two."