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Elana Meyers Taylor slapped the front of her bobsled as soon as she slowed down at the finish line. She placed her hands on the front of her helmet, bending her head. When she looked up she had the biggest smile on her face.
“We did it,” she yelled.
She finished 0.52 seconds ahead in the fourth and final heat of the first ever women’s monobob event. She was guaranteed an Olympic medal.
“We did it,” she said again, and the single sentence carried the weight of the past three weeks. Meyers Taylor’s improbable journey to the start line — and now, an Olympic medal — consisted of a positive COVID-19 test after arriving in Beijing, isolating for more than a week without her new-born son, Nico, and producing two negative tests before training began for women’s monobob.
Canada’s Christine de Bruin couldn’t overtake Meyers Taylor’s time. The 37-year-old mom is an Olympic medalist. Again.
In the process, Meyers Taylor made history. She became one of two of the first women — along with teammate Kaillie Humphries — to win a medal at four consecutive Olympics. She also became the oldest American woman to ever win a medal at the Winter Olympics at 37 years and 127 days.
Meyers Taylor’s journey is impressive.
And so is the story of Team USA’s women at this year’s Beijing Games. Of the 16 medals won by the U.S. so far, women have won 13 medals — including the most number of gold medals (4). Of the 27 women’s events so far, Team USA leads the Olympics with the most number of medals: eight. To add to that, Team USA is also the only nation to have four different women win the gold medals: Lindsey Jacobellis, Chloe Kim, Kaillie Humphries and Erin Jackson.
The U.S. women only make up 48% of the Team USA cohort…
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Source : espn
