Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Birth name | Elana Alessandra Meyers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Oceanside, California, U.S. | October 10, 1984|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 79 kg (174 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country | United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Bobsleigh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Elana Meyers Taylor [1] (born Elana Alessandra Meyers; October 10, 1984) is an American Olympic bobsledder and World Champion who has competed since 2007. Born in Oceanside, California, Meyers Taylor was raised in Douglasville, Georgia and is a graduate of George Washington University, where she was a member of the softball team. [2]
Meyers Taylor won the silver in the bobsled two-woman event with Shauna Rohbock at the 2009 FIBT World Championships in Lake Placid, New York.
She was named to the U.S. team for the 2010 Winter Olympics on January 16, 2010.
On February 24, 2010, Meyers Taylor and Erin Pac won the bronze medal at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Their first run has a time of 53.28. Their second run has a time of 53.05. Their third run has a time of 53.29. Their fourth run has a time of 53.78 for a total of 3:33.40, a difference of +1.12 from first place.
In 2010, Elana Meyers Taylor received a grant from the Women's Sports Foundation (WSF) Travel and Training Fund, and another in 2013. She went on to serve on the WSF advisory board and eventually served as their president in 2019. [3]
Meyers Taylor and brake-woman Katie Eberling placed second at the 2013 FIBT World Championships in St. Moritz. [4]
On February 19, 2014, Meyers Taylor and Lauryn Williams won the silver medal at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. Their first run has a time of 57.26, a track record. Their second run has a time of 57.63. Their third run has a time of 57.69. Their fourth run has a time of 58.13 for a total of 3:50.71, a difference of +0.10 from first place, just edged out by rival Canada 1, piloted by Kaillie Humphries and braked by Heather Moyse.
In April 2014, she took part in 2014 China Women's Sevens with United States women's national rugby union team (sevens) [5]
In September 2014, the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing announced it would allow mixed-gender crews to compete in four-man bobsleigh. [6] On 8 November, Meyers Taylor led a four-man crew to third place in the US trials, securing a place to compete for the US national team, despite only having four days training in a four-man sled. [1] On November 15, 2014, Meyers and Kaillie Humphries of Canada became the first women to compete with/against men in an international four-man bobsleigh competition, in the season-opening North American Cup race in Park City, Utah. [7] Meyers Taylor piloted her mixed-team's sled to a seventh-place finish, Humphries piloted hers to sixth. [7] [8] [9]
In February 2015, Meyers Taylor and pusher Cherrelle Garrett beat three German crews to win the first world championship title in women's bobsled for the United States. [10] This also made Meyers Taylor the first U.S. bobsled driver, either male or female, in 56 years to win a worlds title on a non-North American track. [10]
In February 2018, Meyers Taylor and pusher Lauren Gibbs won a silver medal in the two-woman bobsleigh event at the 2018 Winter Olympics. [11]
Meyers Taylor was chosen as a flag bearer for the 2022 US Olympic team but was unable to attend the opening ceremony due to testing positive for COVID-19 and was replaced by Brittany Bowe who served on her behalf. [12]
Elana Meyers Taylor was born in Oceanside, California but grew up in Douglasville, Georgia with her family. Her father was a professional football player. After failing to make the US Olympic softball team, she tried bobsledding at her parents' suggestion. [3]
Meyers Taylor attended The George Washington University on a scholarship for softball. The university later presented Taylor with an honorary doctorate in 2018 and the President's Medal in 2022. [13] Meyers Taylor was the commencement speaker for the university's Class of 2022.
Meyers Taylor married coach and fellow Olympic bobsledder Nic Taylor in April 2014. [1] She gave birth to her son, Nico, in 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nico was born with Down syndrome. [14]
Meyers Taylor is a Christian. She has said, "One of the big reasons I was put in bobsled is to help people not only reach their goals but come to Christ. God put me here for a specific reason, and I don't think it's just to win medals. At the end of the day, I'm in this sport to glorify God, so if that means I come in last place, or I win the gold medal, that's what I'm going to do." [15]
In January 2014, Elana Meyers Taylor suffered a concussion while racing in Konigssee, Germany. Just four days after the initial incident, Taylor was cleared to compete again and, within a month, had won a world championship title. However, Meyers Taylor's symptoms returned during a 2-month-long internship with the International Olympic Committee in Switzerland. In November 2014, she took another hit to her head and was not fully cleared to compete and practice again until mid-December of that year. [16] In 2018, Meyers Taylor announced she would be donating her brain to concussion research as a way to help and empower future female athletes. [17] Meyers has also suffered and come back from a torn achilles. [18]
In November 2014, Meyers Taylor made history by becoming the first woman to win a medal in a men's event as part of an international competition. [3] Not only was she one of the first women to compete in a mixed-gender four-man race, she did so with her husband Nic Taylor as her brakeman. [1]
In a 2018 US Olympic Committee press release, Elana Meyers Taylor spoke out about her drive to advocate for female athletes and females, writing that as a woman of Team USA, she "has a responsibility to fight for equality for those who can't. She loves the responsibility." [19] In January 2019, Elana Meyers Taylor began her term as president of the Women's Sports Foundation due to her passion and advocacy work for female athlete. [18]
On June 26, 2020, Elana Meyers Taylor called attention to the racism she has faced throughout her athletic career—specifically in her bobsledding career—in an article by Team USA. She details an incident in which an Olympic coach of another country's team made multiple racist statements, both general and specific to Elana Meyers Taylor. Taylor's article also explained that one of the fastest sled manufacturers in the world refuses to sell to black bobsledders. Elana's article resulted in the creation of a task force by the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation to investigate these incidents. Additionally, Meyers Taylor announced she was creating a workshop for others to share and spread their experiences facing racism to expose the biases that often lead to racist incidents and to teach alternative behaviors that do not cause discrimination. [20] [21]
Helen Lesley Upperton is a Canadian bobsledder who has competed since 2002. Upperton was born in Ahmadi, Kuwait as her parents involvement in the oil industry meant they traveled abroad. She holds dual citizenship of both Great Britain and Canada. Upperton won the silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics after previously finishing fourth in the two-woman event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. In 2020 Upperton won a Canadian Screen Award for “Best Sports Analyst” for her coverage of the Bobsleigh World Championship event with Mark Lee. She went to high school at Dr. E.P. Scarlett High School and graduated from the University of Texas in Austin with a BSc.
Heather Moyse is a Canadian athlete and two-time Olympic gold medalist, representing Canada in international competition as a bobsledder, rugby union player, and track cyclist and competing at the Canadian intercollegiate level in rugby, soccer and track and field.
Shauna Linn Rohbock is a retired Olympic medal-winning bobsledder, former professional soccer player, and is a staff sergeant in the Utah Army National Guard. After retiring from competitions she worked as a bobsled coach at the Utah Olympic Park.
Erin Pac is a former American bobsledder who competed from 2002 to 2010. She won two medals in the mixed bobsled-skeleton team event at the FIBT World Championships with a silver in 2007 and a bronze in 2008.
The FIBT World Championships 2011 took place 14 February – 27 February 2011 in Königssee, Germany, for the fifth time, doing so previously in 1979, 1986, and 1990 (skeleton), and 2004. In 2007, the championships were awarded to Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy over Winterberg Germany, but Cortina withdrew in February 2009 to a series of issues.
Kaillie Humphries is a Canadian-American bobsledder. Representing Canada, she was the 2010 and 2014 Olympic champion in the two-woman bobsled and the 2018 Olympic bronze medalist with brakewoman Phylicia George. With her victory in 2014, she became the first female bobsledder to defend her Olympic title and was named flagbearer for the Olympic closing ceremony with brakewoman Heather Moyse.
Shelly-Ann Camille Brown is a former Canadian bobsledder who has competed since 2006.She was born in Scarborough, Ontario to Jamaican immigrant parents, and also raised in nearby Pickering, Ontario. Brown was recruited to the University of Nebraska on a track and field scholarship, and graduated with a degree in biology and a master's in educational psychology.
The two-woman bobsleigh competition at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, was held at the Whistler Sliding Centre in Whistler, British Columbia, on 20–21 February.
Thomas De La Hunty is a British former bobsledder and bobsleigh coach.
Phylicia George is a Canadian Olympic track and field athlete and bobsledder.
Aja L. Evans is an American Olympic medalist bobsledder (two-woman) who competes as a brakeman. At her Chicago public high school she was an All-American track & field City Champion in sprints and shot put. As a college athlete she was an All-American and Big Ten Champion shot putter.
Melissa Lotholz is a Canadian bobsledder.
Lori Susan "Lolo" Jones is an American hurdler and bobsledder who specializes in the 60-meter and 100-meter hurdles. She won three NCAA titles and garnered 11 All-American honors while at Louisiana State University. She won indoor national titles in 2007, 2008, and 2009 in the 60-meter hurdles, with gold medals at the World Indoor Championship in 2008 and 2010.
Lauren Gibbs is an American bobsledder who competes as a brakeman. She was named to the U.S. Olympic team for the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Lake Kwaza is an American bobsledder and sprinter.
Kim Kalicki is a German bobsledder who competes for TuS Eintracht Wiesbaden 1846. She also representing the Germany national team since 2015 and won the silver medal in the two-woman bobsleigh event at the Bobsleigh World Championships in 2020 and 2021 with Kira Lipperheide and Ann-Christin Strack, respectively.
Sylvia Hoffman is an American bobsledder who was first discovered and recruited for the national bobsled team on The Next Olympic Hopeful. She is originally from Arlington, TX and attended Louisiana State University Shreveport. Before bobsledding she was a college basketball player and participated in weightlifting.
The two-woman competition in bobsleigh at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 18 February and 19 February, at the Xiaohaituo Bobsleigh and Luge Track in Yanqing District of Beijing. Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi of Germany won the event, the first Olympic medal for them. Mariama Jamanka and Alexandra Burghardt, also of Germany, won the silver medal, and Elana Meyers Taylor and Sylvia Hoffman, of the United States, bronze.
The women's monobob competition in bobsleigh at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 13 February and 14 February, at the Xiaohaituo Bobsleigh and Luge Track in Yanqing District of Beijing. This was the inaugural monobob competition at the Olympics. Kaillie Humphries of the United States won the event. She was the 2018 two-woman bobsleigh champion, but at that time she represented Canada. Elana Meyers Taylor, also of the United States, won the silver medal, and Christine de Bruin of Canada bronze, her first Olympic medal.
Kaysha Love is an American bobsledder and former collegiate sprinter. She attended and competed in track and field at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, where she was a two-time Second Team All-American (2017–2018). She was Utah’s 2016 Gatorade State Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year in high school. She represented the United States at the 2022 Winter Olympics, where she competed in the two-woman bobsled.