Veteran bobsled champion Elana Meyers Taylor is on cloud nine. At 41, the American has become the oldest female athlete to clinch a gold medal at the Winter Olympics.
Taylor participated alongside Kailie Humphries for Team USA in the women’s monobob competition. Despite facing stiff competition from Laura Nolte of Germany, the four-time World Champion prevailed as she edged Nolte out for the gold medal by four-hundredths of a second!
Elana Meyers Taylor Reveals The Reason Behind Historic Triumph At Winter Olympics
In an interview likely conducted before the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics with the Olympics channel, Taylor described the inspiration behind her historic triumph: her own kids.
Not many know that Taylor has two sons, Nico (born 2020) and Noah (born 2022). They both have hearing impairments, so the bobsled champion communicates with her children through sign language. Nico is also diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Initially, she considered retiring after childbirth, but eventually couldn’t resist one last try.
Taylor mentioned in the interview about how she dealt with the situation, as she stated,
“Being a mom to two deaf kids is, It’s kind of crazy in the sense that when they’re born, you’re told that you need to learn a whole new language to be able to communicate with your child. It’s like walking into this brand new world that you never really knew existed. Oh yeah, we have a pretty chaotic life, it’s a combination of making sure that I get everything to be done and also being a parent.”
The bobsled champion further revealed why she wanted to win the gold medal as she added,
“My #1 goal in life pre-kids was to win a gold medal… With my kids, what’s really taught me is your value lies in who you are as a person.”
Taylor has been active in the Olympic circuit since her debut at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, where she clinched a bronze medal in the two-woman bobsled. She upgraded to silver in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
The veteran bobsled champion further maintained the consistency at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Although the American champion didn’t win silver in the event at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, she made up for it by winning bronze. Taylor also clinched her first monobob medal, taking silver.
However, Taylor’s journey isn’t over yet. She’ll be teaming up with Jadin O’Brien for the two-woman bobsled event, which shall take place on Feb. 20 and Feb. 21, respectively.
