Aja L. Evans (born 12 May 1988) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Olympic medalists

bobsled Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Feder ...

der (Two-woman) who competes as a brakeman. At her Chicago public high school she was an All-American track & field City Champion in sprints and shot put. As a college athlete she was an All-American and

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

Champion shot putter.

Career

Aja Evans began track and field training at

Morgan Park High School Morgan Park High School is a 4–year public high school and middle school located in the Morgan Park neighborhood on the far south side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1916, Morgan Park is a part of the Chicago Public Schools dis ...

on the far south side of

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. She attended

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

before transferring to the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

. Evans was a college record setting, five-time All-American and three-time Big Ten Champion shot potter at the University of Illinois. Evans began competing in the bobsled after graduation. She was a brakeman for drivers

Jamie Greubel Jamie Greubel Poser (born November 9, 1983) née Greubel is an American bobsledder who won her first Bobsleigh World Cup medal in December 2012. She won the Bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Two-woman Bobsleigh event. Greubel gra ...

Elana Meyers Elana Meyers Taylor (born Elana Alessandra Meyers; October 10, 1984) is an American Olympic bobsledder and World Champion who has competed since 2007. Born in Oceanside, California, Meyers Taylor was raised in Douglasville, Georgia and is a grad ...

, and Jazmine Fenlator in the 2012–2013 World Cup season, earning a bronze in Igls and a silver at the Sochi. In the 2013–2014 World Cup season, she earned silver at Calgary and gold at Park City. Evans was named to the U.S. Olympic bobsled team for the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

on January 19, 2014.TeamUSA.org – 2014 U.S. Olympic Bobsled Team Announced
January 19, 2014. On February 19, 2014, Evans, along with

, won the bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Family

Evans comes from a family of athletes. Her father, Fred, became the first black national collegiate champion in swimming when he competed for

Chicago State Chicago State University (CSU) is a predominantly black public university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1867 as the Cook County Normal School, it was an innovative teachers college. Eventually the Chicago Public Schools assumed control of t ...

. Her brother, also named

Fred Fred may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Ro ...

, is a defensive tackle for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

. Her uncle is retired

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

outfielder

Gary Matthews Gary Nathaniel Matthews Sr. (born July 5, 1950), nicknamed Sarge, is an American former professional baseball left fielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from through for the San Francisco Giants, Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phill ...

and her cousin is baseball player Gary Matthews, Jr. “I’m a product of Chicago,” said Evans. “Showing people that this black girl from Chicago came to the Winter Olympic sport and really did some amazing things, and it was all because I had that will to win and it was my dream."

References

External links

* 1988 births Living people American female bobsledders African-American sportswomen Bobsledders at the 2014 Winter Olympics Bobsledders at the 2018 Winter Olympics Bobsledders from Chicago University of Illinois alumni Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in bobsleigh People from Homewood, Illinois 21st-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women {{US-bobsleigh-bio-stub