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Fleming, Valerie
- 2006 Olympic silver medalist
- 2005 World Championships bronze medalist breaking the start and track records in Calgary
- Finished in the top-3 in four of five World Cup races in the 2006 season
- Won a silver and two bronze medals during the 2005 World Cup season
- Set five start records during the 2005 season, including at the track in Torino
- “I’m very competitive myself,” said Fleming in her “My Story” film talking about Rohbock and herself. “We can’t play games together anymore because I continue to beat her and then she crys about it.”
- Believed her career in sports was finished after her injuries, Fleming was encouraged by a former track & field teammate to try bobsledding and took her first run with Jean Racine … feeling sick, Fleming wondered what she’d gotten herself into
- “We are the best of friends,” teammate Shauna Rohbock said about her roommate in Fleming’s “My Story” film. “We spend all our time together. We live together. We train together.”
- Broke the school record in the 400m relay at the University of California Santa Barbara and was the Big West champion in women’s javelin – dreamed of becoming an Olympian in the javelin but was sidelined due to an elbow injury''
- “She always said, `I'm going to the Olympics if I have to walk,' '' said her mother, Lenore Turkovich, to Mecury News. ``If it wasn't this, it was going to be kayaking.''
- Credits her step-dad as the one who instilled in her the dedication to sports
- Growing up Fleming preferred to play baseball or football with the neighborhood boys than Barbies with her faternal twin sister
- Has a master’s degree in health, physical education and recreation
- Works at The Home Depot in Park City, Utah in the garden department
Fleming and Rohbock crashed once during the 2005 World Cup season giving Fleming an ice burn on her shoulder. It later became infected and during the off season she had to have a skin graft. With her twin sister getting married, Valerie was worried that her scar would show when she wore her bridesmaid’s dress. Though Valerie is a tomboy, her sister, Vicci, is more interested in fashion. The twins’ mother said to Mecury News, “Vicci likes Gucci and Valerie likes Nike.''
Related Links
Wallpaper: To download Valerie Fleming wallpapers go here
Photo Gallery: Bobsledders Shauna Rohbock and Valerie Fleming Slide to Silver
On her role as a brakeman: “You run, you push, you get in and you have no control,'' Fleming said to Mercury News.
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Height: 5’ 8.5”
Born: 18-Dec-1976
Hometown: San Francisco, Calif.
Resides: Park City, Utah
Sport: Bobsled
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