Elana Meyers Taylor captured her first Olympic gold, further solidifying her place as the most decorated Black athlete in Winter Olympics history and the most decorated U.S. Olympic bobsledder.
Details on Meyers Taylor’s Olympic win and her achievements
The now six-time Olympian secured the win during the women’s monobob competition at the Milan-Cortina Games on Monday. Meyers Taylor, 41, made history as the oldest woman to win an individual gold medal in Winter Games history, tying Bonnie Blair for the most medals by a U.S. woman in the Winter Games and extending her record of most medals won by a Black woman competing in the Winter Games, according to The Associated Press.
Meyers Taylor had many achievements throughout her career, but she faced personal struggles and burnout that almost led her to quit. However, it was her husband, Nic Taylor, a former bobsledder and a performance coach with the San Antonio Spurs, who encouraged her not to give up. The support of her partner motivated Meyers Taylor, who went on to win her first Olympic gold and her sixth overall medal. She previously earned silver in the 2014 and 2018 two-woman bobsled and 2022 monobob. She had also won bronze in the 2010 two-woman and 2022 two-woman events.
“Oh, I don’t think I’m going to process this for a while,” Meyers Taylor said in a statement obtained by Olympics.com. “There were so many moments during this entire season, during this past four years, that we just thought it was impossible, or I thought it wasn’t possible. My team around me believed in me the entire time.”
Meyers Taylor on her kids watching her win: ‘It’s just incredible’
Meyers Taylor said winning the prestigious award was a major accomplishment, but sharing the moment with her two sons, Nico and Noah, was priceless.
“This is definitely the top, not only the Olympic champion, but to be able to do this with my kids, both my kids like it’s just incredible,” Meyers Taylor said to reporters after the medal ceremony, NBC News reported.
Both of Meyers Taylor’s sons are deaf, with Nico also being diagnosed with Down syndrome. She and her husband communicate with their children through American Sign Language. She said she even taught them the different signs and words to look out for during the competition, including “bobsled,” “bobsled race” and “champion,” according to Olympics.com.
“I hope they remember this visually, and I hope they were able to take it all in, that visual memory, because obviously they couldn’t hear everything that was going on. One day when they’re a little bit older they’ll see it and they’ll know that their mom was Olympic champion,” she said.