Bonnie St. John

Bonnie St. John (born November 7, 1964) is the first African-American to win medals in Winter Paralympic competition as a ski racer. Her mother, Ruby Cremaschi-Schwimmer, was a principal at Lincoln High School (San Diego). Her father, Lee St. John, left before she was born. Bonnie was born in Detroit but raised in San Diego. In the 1984 Winter Paralympics in Innsbruck, Austria, St. John won a bronze medal in the slalom, a bronze medal in the giant slalom, 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.

At the 2002 Paralympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, St. John was asked to speak during the opening ceremonies.

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. Despite these challenges, she went on to excel as an athlete, a scholar, a mother and a businesswoman. After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1986, St. John won a Rhodes Scholarship to Trinity College, Oxford, where she earned her M.Litt. degree in economics in 1990. She worked in the White House during the Clinton administration as a Director for the National Economic Council, and is currently CEO of Courageous Spirit, Inc.

Bonnie St. John was formerly married to Dr. Grant Deane, an ocean acoustician and physicist at Scripps Institute of Oceanography.

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