Photo: Tom Pennington/Getty/Team USA
Elana Meyers Taylorwill be competing at the Beijing Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19.
The four-time Olympian, who ranks No. 1 in the world in two-man and monobob, wascleared to competeafter giving required negative COVID-19 tests on Saturday.
Meyers Taylor, 37, tested positive on Jan. 29, two days after arriving in China. She had to test negative twice, 24 hours apart, to be allowed to compete in her events, which include the two-woman bobsleigh and inaugural women’s monobob.
Meyers Taylor was quarantined away from her entire team as well as her husband Nic Taylor (an alternate for the men’s bobsled team) and their son Nico, who turns 2 this month and traveled to Beijing with her under exceptions for breastfeeding mothers. All three tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in China, and were required to quarantine separately.
“After arriving to Beijing on January 27, on January 29 I tested positive for Covid-19. I am asymptomatic and currently at an isolation hotel- and yes I am completely isolated,” the mother of oneannouncedon social media. “Getting to the Olympics is never easy, and this time, as a new mom, it has been the most challenging, but also, incredibly rewarding, to be able to show that it can still be done. So many people, especially other moms from all walks of life, have been so supportive of my efforts to get back to the Olympics. It’s been an incredible wave of positivity that I’ve been riding to a while so I’m going to continue to do that. This is just the latest obstacle that my family and I have faced on this journey, so I’m remaining optimistic that I’ll be able to recover quickly and still have the opportunity to compete.”
On Saturday, the athlete told theTodayshow that her loved ones, including her coaches, have been keeping her focused. “They’ve been sending me notes on the track and doing different things like that,” she said. “I also have tons and tons of video from our coaches who’ve just been doing everything they can to keep me engaged and keep me involved. So I’ve just been going over that as much as I can and watching video and doing whatever I can to stay ready.”
Throughout her isolation, Meyers Taylor documented her workouts from her hotel. Official training begins Thursday.
Meyers Taylor was elected as one of Team USA’s flagbearers at the Opening Ceremony, alongside curler John Shuster. However, she was unable to attend Friday’s ceremony due to her COVID diagnosis. Speed skater Brittany Bowe, who was the first runner-up in the flagbearer election, was tapped as a replacement.
Her first event will be the first-ever Olympic women’s monobob on Feb. 13.
To learn more about Team USA, visitTeamUSA.org. Watch the Winter Olympics, now, and the Paralympics, beginning March 4, on NBC.
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source: people.com
