Elana MEYERS TAYLOR

DONATING HER BRAIN
A self-described "crash pilot", Meyers Taylor has pledged to donate her brain to concussion research after struggling with the effects of multiple concussions during her career, particularly in 2015. "After the situation, I had with my concussion in 2015, how long and lasting the effects were, I'm just more careful about it. If I'm tired and not feeling well, if I feel like I have any symptoms, any little hit that causes something to go off, I don't go down (the track). Donating my brain was one of the things that I think I could do to help my sports and other female athletes for years to come. Hopefully, I'm not donating it anytime soon, but it's definitely something I'm passionate about and a way to use the struggles that I've gone through to help other people."

Since the concussion in 2015, specialists monitor her regularly to ensure that she is still able to compete. "I have to constantly check in with them. There's not a year that goes by, or a month that goes by, that I'm not checking in with my doctors to make sure this is still okay, because as soon as I get the red light from them, (my career) is over." (Info 2018; Olympic Channel Podcast, 13 March 2019)

A MEDAL AND A RING
Won a silver medal at the 2013 World Championships in St. Moritz, where her partner Nicholas Taylor surprised her with a marriage proposal while she was still standing on the podium. Taylor, who has also represented the United States of America in bobsleigh, arranged the proposal with International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) president Ivo Ferriani who organised television cameras and a microphone to ensure the moment was seen and heard by all. Meyers said "yes", and the couple married after the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. (Info 2018)

PREGNANCY
Pregnant with her first child, she took the entire 2019/20 season off. As other athletes competed in the World Championships in Altenberg, she underwent an emergency C-section in the state of Georgia (USA), to give birth three weeks early to Nico, who was diagnosed with Down syndrome, as well as profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. "I remember a distinct moment sitting in the (neonatal intensive care unit) last February thinking that coming back to bobsleigh would be impossible."

Six weeks post-C-section, she received the all-clear to return to training, which took place in her garage due to COVID-19. She was back on the podium in the 2-woman in her second World Cup race of the 2020/21 season and finished fifth at the 2021 World Championships. (nbcsports.com, 4 Feb 2021; Instagram, 1 Feb 2021; washingtonpost.com, 12 May 2020)

FEMALE FIRST
In 2014, along with Kaillie Humphries (then competing for Canada), became the first woman to medal in international competition while piloting a 4-man sled in a North American Cup race in Calgary (Humphries in second, Meyers Taylor in third). Later that season, they both became the first female pilots in the 4-man event at the World Cup in Calgary (Humphries in 14th, Meyers Taylor in 15th).

She pushed the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation to include women in the 4-man event, now gender-neutral since September 2014. “I think the biggest thing is I just wanted another opportunity to compete. Men have had two disciplines forever, two opportunities to win an Olympic medal where we’ve just been relegated to one. In our sport, pretty much if you are off (the pace in) the first run of the Olympics, it’s pretty hard to work your way back. So really it comes down to the first run, if you’re not there you’re out of a medal already. To have another opportunity to compete and to show what I’ve got against the best in the world, that’s really what I was after." (theguardian.com, 18 Dec 2014)

COVID-19
Tested positive for COVID-19 on her second day in China for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. She tested negative twice and was released from isolation on 5 February. (cnn.com, 1 Feb 2022; espn.com, 5 Feb 2022)

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OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES
Won her fourth and fifth Olympic medals in Beijing, making her the most-decorated woman bobsledder in the sport's history. She is also the oldest female medallist in the sport and is the most-decorated black athlete in Olympic Winter Games history.

Made her Olympic Winter Games debut at Vancouver 2010 piloting USA II with Erin Pac. They finished second in each of the first three runs and were eighth in the fourth, but their combined time of 3:33.40 was good enough for the bronze medal.

Led for the first three runs at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, but skidded on the final run and lost the gold medal to Canada's Kaillie Humphries by 0.1 seconds.

At PyeongChang 2018, while battling an injury, she beat third-placed Humphries, narrowly finishing with the silver medal, 0.07 seconds behind the Olympic champion Mariama Jamanka (GER).

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Won the first women's bobsleigh gold for Team USA in the 2-woman at the 2015 World Championships. With her win, she became the first USA athlete since Arthur Tyler's 4-man bob in 1959 to win a World Championship gold medal on a non-North American track.

Her eight World Championships medals rank third all-time behind Germany's Sandra Kiriasis (13) and Kaillie Humphries (12).