Good Morning POU!
Today we feature Bonnie St. John!
Bonnie St. John (born November 7, 1964) is the first African-American to win medals in Winter Paralympic competition as a ski racer. In the 1984 Winter Paralympics in Innsbruck, Austria, St. John won a bronze medal in the slalom, a bronze medal in the giant slalom, and was awarded a silver medal for overall performance thereby earning her the distinction of being the second fastest woman in the world on one leg in that year.
Due to a condition called pre-femoral focal disorder, St. John had her right leg amputated below the knee when she was 5 years old.
The growth in her right leg was stunted at birth. At first, Bonnie wore a heavy leg brace and white high-top orthopedic shoes she hated. She remembers dragging her leg with its heavy brace along the dusty dirt road on the way to Sunday school.
When she was 5, her leg was amputated and she got a prosthetic leg made of wood, with metal hinges.
Her mom took a picture of Bonnie in the backyard, showing off her new leg. Then she gave her a brochure with a photo of an amputee on a ski. Bonnie tucked it away in her box of special treasures, along with a lock of her dog’s hair and a rock from the Grand Canyon.
On the slopes
When Bonnie turned 15, her friend Barbara invited her on a ski trip. She borrowed equipment from a sports club for amputees. After three days of crashing and bruising on the slopes, Bonnie was skiing.
“The feeling of going fast, the wind in my hair, it addicted me,” she says.
She attended Burke Mountain Academy, a high school in Vermont for ski racers. The tuition was pricey, but she received help from the National Brotherhood of Skiers, an organization of African-American skiers.
She was good. St. John went on to win six medals in her first National Handicapped Ski Championship. At 19, she landed a spot on the U.S. team for the 1984 Paralympics in Innsbruck, Austria, and won the silver medal for overall performance.
After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1986, St. John won a Rhodes Scholarship to Trinity College, Oxford, where she earned her M.Litt. degree in economics in 1990. She worked in the White House during the Clinton administration as a Director for the National Economic Council, and is currently CEO of Courageous Spirit, Inc.