Athletes

Krista Ford is the first and only African-American to compete in the sport of women's bobsledding. She is a five-foot-six-inch brakeman entering her fifth year on the national bobsled team. She holds the fastest push time in the world on two tracks (Lake Placid, 5.92 seconds; Park City, 4.46 seconds).

She won a gold and silver medal in two World Cup races (1999-2000). Ford also made her mark by winning the 1999 National Push Championships, where she has held the record since 1995 (5.92 seconds). Her team won two silver medals at the 1998 International Women's Bobsled Race, becoming the first U.S. women's team to ever medal. She placed fifth at the Park City World Cup races (1997-1998) and won a silver medal in the Monaco Push Championships (1997-1998).

She has also been a member of the U.S. National Women's Powerlifiting Team since 1989. She won the 2000 National Powerlifting Championship, making her a four-time national champion and a two-time world champion, bench pressing 314 pounds.

In 1996, she won her first world championship title in the 181-lb. class. A gold medalist at the 1994 Goodwill Games in the 165-lb. class, Ford also won the national title at the 1996 U.S. Women's Powerlifting Championships in the 181-lb. class with personal bests in squat, bench press and deadlift. Competing in four world championships as a member of the U.S. Women's Powerlifting Team, she finished third in her first competition (1993) and then took first-place finish in the following three (1994-1996). She has been ranked in the top five of the “20 Best Women Powerlifters in the United States” by Powerlifting USA Magazine five times since 1991. (1/01)