Softball
Born: January 09, 1981,Tucson, AZ
Hometown: Tucson, AZ
Residence: Long Beach, CA
Ht: 5'7"
Olympics: 2004
Event(s): Softball
Position: First base, Catcher
Olympic return: Tairia Flowers will look to represent the United States at the Olympics for the second time in her career this summer in Beijing, where she will play first base and catcher for the gold medal favorites. Flowers, who married a former UCLA basketball player, was limited in Athens by a Chrone's disease.
Stellar season: While playing on the gold medal-winning U.S. team at the 2007 World Cup, Flowers hit an impressive .462 (6-for-13) with three home runs (a World Cup record) and a team-leading 12 RBIs. One of her home runs was a grand slam against China.
Limited action: Flowers was a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. team at the 2004 Athens Games, going 0-for-2 in the tournament with three runs scored. She won a gold medal at the 2006 World Championship, batting .333 (3-for-9) in limited playing time. Flowers competed in her first World Championship in 2002, batting .500 in six at-bats.
USA Softball.
Tairia Flowers is one of the more reliable hitters in the U.S. lineup.
Ill affects: Flowers competed in Athens while suffering from the gastrointestinal disorder known as Crohn's Disease. During the pre-Olympic tour, she started feeling sick and had pains in her stomach. While going city to city with the team, she saw three different doctors in three different states. With a week left in the tour, she was sent home. Flowers lost about 20 pounds. and had to change her diet radically. By the time the team arrived at the Olympics, she had been bed-ridden for 2-3 weeks. Bread and plain pasta (no sauce) was all that she could eat in the Olympic Village.
Becoming a Bruin: As a senior, Flowers led UCLA to the 2003 Women's College World Series title. Although Flowers grew up near the University of Arizona in Tucson, she chose the Bruins over her hometown school, a perennial collegiate softball power. "Everyone thought I would end up going to Arizona," she said. Though Arizona's Mike Candrea lost the recruiting battle, he coaches her now with Team USA.
Anniversary Flowers: On August 23, 2003, a week after winning a gold medal at the Pan Am Games, Tairia Mims married former UCLA basketball player Jason Flowers and is a stepmother to his daughter, Jasmine. The 2004 Olympic gold medal game took place on her one-year wedding anniversary. Thie gold medal game in Beijing will be on Aug. 21.
Off the field: Flowers, the only child of Leroy and Jackie Mims, works as an assistant coach at Long Beach State University. She is a big movie buff who enjoys falling asleep to Disney movies because they give her good dreams. Flowers' dream job would be as a sports broadcaster, even though she gets nervous talking in front of people. 
