Olympic Preview: For the First Time, a Black Medal

Unless the unexpected happens, Debi Thomas will become the first black athlete to win a medal in the Winter Games. Records are not immaculately kept on the point, but apparently it was 1980 before U.S. Bobsledders Willie Davenport and Jeff Gadley, along with their Canadian counterpart Bob Wilson, broke the color line. Several more black athletes will compete in Calgary, including Canadian Hockey Player Claude Vilgrain. If part of the problem is lack of black involvement in winter sports, that is changing too. E. Rory Flack, 18, is the most prominent of a growing number of black athletes following Thomas' lead. At a Cleveland exhibition last year, Flack was one of some 70 skaters -- all of them black. "I didn't know there were that many in the world," she says. "But there are a lot more. They just haven't made it yet."