Two current Georgia residents will be representing the U.S. at this year’s Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.
Two-time Olympic medalist Elana Meyers Taylor of Douglasville is set to be the star of the U.S. bobsleigh team. In the two-woman event, she won bronze in Vancouver as the brakeman and piloted for a silver medal at the Sochi games.
A four-time world champion, Taylor will have her sights set on gold this year and may possibly feature in the four-man event, which is open to either gender.
“When bobsled is going right – and it sometimes goes wrong – it’s the closest thing I could imagine to being a superhero,” Taylor said in an interview. “I made driving mistakes in Sochi that cost me gold…I wouldn’t be the pilot I am now without the lessons I learned in Sochi, though. Since then, I’ve won two world championships and I’m more prepared for adversity.”
“It’s the Olympics, and something crazy always happens, but I’m confident,” Taylor continued.
Also on the bobsleigh team is Athens native and current Stockbridge resident Chris Kinney. Competing in his first Olympic Games, Kinney has been steadily improving over the last three years.
His breakthrough onto the team has come within the last year, winning gold at the North American Cup in the two-man event as a brakeman and assisting in the four-man event for two gold medals
