Elana Meyers Taylor finally captured Olympic gold.
It took her five Winter Olympics, but the legendary 41-year-old bobsledder reached the top of the podium Monday in the women’s monobob in Cortina, finishing in 3:57.93 seconds and edging Germany’s Laura Nolte by four-hundredths of a second in what is the closest women’s bobsled finish in Olympic history.
Meyers Taylor’s emotions came pouring out of her as she celebrated with her sons Nico, 5, who has Down syndrome, and Noah, 3; both are deaf.
“I thought it was impossible,” Meyers Taylor said. “I didn’t need it, but I wanted it.”
She became the oldest American woman to earn a medal at the Winter Games, and her sixth career medal tied her with former speedskating star Bonnie Blair for the most by an American woman in Winter Olympic history.
It also extended her record for the most medals by any black woman ever at the Winter Games.
“To have my name up there with Bonnie Blair, it doesn’t even make sense to me,” Meyers Taylor said.
Germany’s Laura Nolte led by 0.15 seconds entering the final heat but then lost 0.19 seconds of ground to finish behind Meyers Taylor for silver.
Meyers Taylor, who grew up in Douglasville, Ga., outside of Atlanta, first won bronze in the two-woman competition in 2010 as a pusher for Erin Pac.
She then became a pilot and earned silver with Lauryn Williams at the 2014 Sochi Games and won another silver four years later with Lauren Gibbs in Pyeongchang.
She claimed bronze with Sylvia Hoffman at the 2022 Beijing Games, where she also won silver in monobob in the race’s Olympic debut.
Compatriot Kaillie Humphries, the 40-year-old mother to 1-year-old son, Aulden, who won gold in the monobob four years ago, took bronze Monday.
“You get a lot of people that like to write you off as soon as you reach 40, it’s all downhill from there, is what you hear. I think Elana and I are both proof that that’s not true,” Humphries said. “As soon as you become a mom, your body’s not the same, and you can never get that high performance back, and I think we were able to show that that’s not true again.”
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Meyers Taylor, whose father, Eddie, played football at Navy, was a pitcher and shortstop for the George Washington University softball team before beginning her bobsled career, one that was nearly derailed over a decade ago due to concussions.
She was cleared to return at the 2016 world championships and has thrived since.
A 10-time world championship medalist, including four golds, Meyers Taylor — whose husband, Nic, is a two-time Olympic alternate in bobsled — most recently won bronze in monobob at the bobsled and skeleton world championships last March in Lake Placid.
Fellow American Kaysha Love took gold at that event. She finished seventh in Cortina, but she was thrilled for her veteran teammate, who after nearly 20 years in the sport and five Olympics finally reached the pinnacle.
“Seeing Elana, that was iconic,” Love said.
— With AP