Elana Meyers Taylor arrived at the 2026 Winter Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo chasing a dream she has carried through five Olympics. At 41, she finally stood atop the podium, winning monobob gold on Feb. 16.
The medal mattered, but this time the moment was edged by something bigger: her two young sons in the stands, watching, signing “mama,” and turning every run into a family moment.
Meyers Taylor’s path has been anything but simple. She returned from Beijing in 2022 with two Olympic medals and only then learned she was pregnant.
Since then, she has juggled elite training, recovery, therapy appointments, and travel with full-time motherhood.
Her boys, Nico and Noah, both travel with her. Nico, born in 2020, has Down syndrome and is deaf; Noah, born in 2022, is also deaf.
“They are both disabled, so they have struggles they have to overcome, and I want them to see their mom and know she continued to chase her dreams despite any obstacles we have,” she said.
That family reality reshaped why Meyers Taylor pulls on a helmet. Medals remain validation, but motivation now runs deeper. She talks about wanting her sons to see example over excuse, to know that challenge does not mean giving up.
“Being a mom is way harder than being an Olympian,” she said. “But the reward is so much greater.”
Support at home has been decisive. Her husband, Nic, is a retired bobsledder turned chiropractor who manages many of the logistics that allow her to train: strength and conditioning, recovery work, and the small, constant adjustments that keep an elite athlete moving.
“My husband will do absolutely anything to help me follow my dreams,” she said. “He’s my strength and conditioning coach, he’s my chiropractor, and he makes my spikes. I wouldn’t be anywhere without him.”
The wins on the ice have a broader aim. Meyers, Taylor, and fellow medalist Kaillie Armbruster Humphries, another mother on the podium, have spoken about how their success should reshape expectations for women and athletes who are parents.
They want their medals to mean something for every parent balancing work, caregiving, and ambition.
“I hope it shows that just because you’re a mom doesn’t mean you have to stop living your dreams,” Meyers Taylor said after the podium.
Practical realities have followed the sentiment. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and team staff provide resources for athlete-parents, and Meyers Taylor credits family and community for the behind-the-scenes labor that made a fifth Olympic campaign possible.
Still, she stresses the daily grind: “It’s still been go-go-go mode, it’s chaos every day.”
Her story has resonated because it is both an elite sport and a family portrait. She competed at the very top while managing pregnancies, sleep deprivation, therapy schedules, and publicity, and she learned American Sign Language to communicate more fully with her sons.
Fans saw more than a bobsled run; they saw a parent showing up for work and home in equal measure.
The gold medal in Cortina is a personal pinnacle and a public signal. Meyers Taylor has long been one of America’s most decorated bobsledders; now she adds a first-place Olympic finish to a career defined by consistency, toughness, and longevity.
For parents who juggle careers and family, her victory is less about hardware and more about permission: to keep chasing, to change priorities, and to redefine what success looks like when children are part of the equation.
On the podium, with her boys nearby and fellow parents standing with her, Meyers Taylor offered a simple message. Competing at the highest level and being present as a parent are not mutually exclusive.
She proved it in practice, and in a moment that will matter to her family far longer than any single medal.
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