USA’s Elana Meyers Taylor won a historic bronze medal at the two-woman bobsled event, becoming the most decorated Black athlete in Winter Olympics history with five medals.
Meyers Taylor, teaming up with bobsledder Sylvia Hoffman, finished at 4:05:48. She punched her fist in the air as she reached the finish line.
Last week, Meyers Taylor, 37, tied speed skater Shani Davis’ record for the most medals — four — when she won silver in the women’s monobob event, which debuted in Beijing.
USA’s Kaillie Humphries, who won the first ever gold medal in the women’s monobob event, finished seventh. Germany went 1-2, with Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi taking gold, and Mariama Jamanka and Alexandra Burghardt taking silver.
Heats 1 and 2 on Friday put Meyers Taylor and Hoffman in bronze-medal position, finishing at 2:02;79 — just 0.74 seconds behind the gold-medal position — after two clean runs. In the final two runs on Saturday, the American duo kept the momentum going, retaining their bronze-medal position after their third (their fastest one at 1:01:13) and fourth run (1:01:56).
Meyers Taylor is now a silver and bronze Beijing Olympics medalist, but she almost didn’t make it to the start-line of the races. Soon after she landed in Beijing, she tested positive for COVID-19, having to isolate from her son, Nico, for more than a week. She was able to provide two negative tests before training for bobsled began, and was cleared to compete.
The 37-year-old four-time Olympian then came out to win silver in the inaugural edition of the women’s monobob, right behind teammate Humphries. She yelled “We did it,” as she came up to the finish of the final run, knowing everything it took for her to medal there.
Meyers Taylor is a three-time silver medal winner — Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang 2018 in the two-woman bobsled event and Beijing 2022 in the women’s monobob event — and a two-time bronze medalist — 2010 Vancouver and 2022 Beijing in two-woman bobsled.
Meyers Taylor, who has raced with 41 different teammates, in 14 tracks and 11 countries, hinted at retirement earlier on at the Beijing Olympics.
“There’s a good chance that it’s my last one,” Meyers Taylor said.
She will be the flag bearer for the closing ceremony for Team USA.
Humphries, who received her American passport in December 2021, missed to medal in the two-woman bobsled event, which is considered her marquee event. She teamed up with Kaysha Love for the race. Humphries, 36, has won a medal in this event in every Olympics she’s competed in — golds in 2010 Vancouver and 2014 Sochi and bronze in 2018 Pyeongchang — for Team Canada.
Three countries have dominated the two-woman bobsled event since its inception at the Winter Olympics in 2002 — Germany, USA and Canada — taking the gold between them at every Games.
