Bonnie St. John (born November 7, 1964) is an American former Paralympic skier, author, and public speaker. St. John had her right leg amputated below the knee when she was 5 years old. Despite these challenges, she went on to excel as an athlete, a scholar, a mother and a businesswoman. She is the first African-American to win medals in Winter Paralympic competition as a ski racer, and the first African-American to medal in any paralympic event.St. John, Bonnie
"I Began Skiing With the Amputee Club."
''www.beyondtheultimate.org.'' Retrieved May 25, 2017. St. John earned bronze and silver medals in several

alpine skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether for ...

events during the

1984 Winter Paralympics The 1984 Winter Paralympic Games (german: Paralympische Winterspiele 1984) were the third Winter Paralympics. They were held from 14 to 20 January 1984 in Innsbruck, Austria. They were the first Winter Games organized by the International Co-ord ...

."Bonnie St. John, United States of America: Alpine Skiing."
'' www.paralympic.org.'' Retrieved November 5, 2019.Turner, Patricia
"Exclusive With the First African-American Olympian Champion in Alpine Skiing: Bonnie St. John."
''www.megadiversities.com'', August 17, 2012. After graduating from Harvard and earning a Rhodes Scholarship, St. John went on to successful corporate career, first in sales with IBM, then as a corporate consultant. She has also written six books, including one each with her daughter Darcy, and her husband, Allen P. Haines.Krampe, Jennifer
"Bonnie St. John: Uphill Skiing."
'' www.success.com'', January 6, 2014. Retrieved May 25, 2017.

Early life

Bonnie St. John was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

on November 7, 1964, and was raised in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. Her mother, Ruby Cremaschi-Schwimmer, was a principal at

Lincoln High School (San Diego) Abraham Lincoln High School (also known as Lincoln High Educational Complex, Lincoln High School, or simply Lincoln), is an urban public high school in San Diego, California, United States. It is part of the San Diego Unified School District. It se ...

. Her father, Lee St. John, left before she was born."Bonnie St. John: Author, Speaker, Olympic Medal Winner."
''www.herstorynetwork.com'', April 26, 2012. ''

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

.'' Retrieved August 8, 2014. Her mother later married an older man, who physically abused St. John and her older sister. 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. She graduated from

The Bishop's School The Bishop's School is an independent college preparatory Episcopal day school located in La Jolla, California. Bishop's is known for its reputation in academics, arts, and athletics as well as its sizable endowment. The school offers courses for ...

in 1982, and graduated ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

'' from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1986, St. John won a

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

to Trinity College, Oxford, where she earned her M.Litt. degree in economics in 1990.

Athletic career

At the

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, St. John won a bronze medal in the

slalom To slalom is to zigzag between obstacles. It may refer to: Sports ;Alpine skiing and/or snowboarding * Slalom skiing, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Giant slalom, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Super-G ...

, a bronze medal in the

giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant slalom and slalom make up t ...

, 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.

Writing career

St. John has written six books: ''Succeeding Sane''; ''Getting Ahead at Work Without Leaving Your Family Behind''; ''Money: Fall Down? Get Up!''; ''How Strong Women Pray''; ''Live Your Joy''; and written with her teenage daughter, Darcy Deane, ''How Great Women Lead.'' Together, they traveled around the world on an extraordinary mother-daughter journey into the lives, and life lessons, of fascinating women leaders including

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist who is the current director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 66th Uni ...

, President of Liberia

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (born Ellen Eugenia Johnson, 29 October 1938) is a Liberian politician who served as the 24th president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa. Sirleaf was born in Monro ...

, and

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

COO COO or coo may refer to: Business * Certificate of origin, used in international trade * Chief operating officer or chief operations officer, high-ranking corporate official * Concept of operations, used in Systems Engineering Management Process ...

Sheryl Sandberg. Her latest book is ''Micro-Resilience'', with her husband Allen Haines."Books - Bonnie St. John."
''www.bonniestjohn.com.'' Retrieved November 3, 2019.

Personal life

Bonnie St. John was formerly married to Dr. Grant Deane, an ocean acoustician and

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

Scripps Institute of Oceanography The Scripps Institution of Oceanography (sometimes referred to as SIO, Scripps Oceanography, or Scripps) in San Diego, California, US founded in 1903, is one of the oldest and largest centers for ocean and Earth science research, public serv ...

. At the

2002 Winter Paralympics The 2002 Winter Paralympics, the eighth Paralympic Winter Games, were held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, from March 7 to 16, 2002. A total of 416 athletes from 36 nations participated. They were the first Winter Paralympics in the Ameri ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, St. John spoke during the opening ceremonies. In February 2007, as part of the celebration of

Black History Month Black History Month is an annual observance originating in the United States, where it is also known as African-American History Month. It has received official recognition from governments in the United States and Canada, and more recently ...

, St. John was honored at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

who said: " onnie St. Johnis the kind of person that you really want to be around, and the kind of person that shows that individual courage matters in life." In 2006 St. John was featured in a nationwide

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...

campaign called "The Way I See It", which featured beverage cups with inspirational quotes from various public figures. St. John's quote was as follows: "I was ahead in the slalom. But in the second run, everyone fell on a dangerous spot. I was beaten by a woman that got up faster than I did. I learned that people fall down, winners get up, and gold medal winners just get up faster.""The Way I See It #165 - Bonnie St. John."
''www.bonniestjohn.com.'' ''Wayback Machine.'' Retrieved November 07, 2008. NBC Nightly News selected St. John as "One of the five most inspiring women in America". She has appeared on '' The Today Show'', ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

'',

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

, ''

Montel Montel is a given name and surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Montel Vontavious Porter (born 1973), American professional wrestler *Montel Williams (born 1956), American television personality and television/radio talk show ...

'' and the Discovery Health Channel. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' and ''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

'' have also profiled St. John and noted her extraordinary achievements. She worked in the White House during the

Clinton administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory over Re ...

as a Director for the National Economic Council, and is currently CEO of Courageous Spirit, Inc.

References

External links

Interview with Bonnie St. John on "How Strong Women Pray."

Interview with Grant Deane about his work recording the sounds of melting glaciers in Svalbard, Norway.
{{DEFAULTSORT:St. John, Bonnie 1964 births Living people American female alpine skiers American Rhodes Scholars Congenital amputees Harvard University alumni Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford Paralympic alpine skiers for the United States Alpine skiers at the 1984 Winter Paralympics Paralympic silver medalists for the United States Paralympic bronze medalists for the United States Medalists at the 1984 Winter Paralympics African-American sportswomen African-American women writers American Christians African-American Christians American Christian writers American amputees Sportspeople from Detroit Sportspeople from San Diego Paralympic medalists in alpine skiing 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people The Bishop's School alumni