VIDEO: Bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor On Challenge Of Being An Olympic Mom

Olympic bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor found herself on the podium again, this time as a silver-medalist in monobob, behind Team U.S.A. teammate Kaillie Humphries. Meyers Taylor, one of the best bobsledders in the world, medaled in as many Olympic games as she’s competed in: four.

This Olympics is different for Meyers Taylor because she now has a son. She gave birth to Nico in 2020. She is just one of two mothers competing in the 2022 Winter Olympics.

“Preparing for the Olympics as a mom has been quite a journey,” she told uInterview before the games. “In Beijing, they’ve made sure to take care of us and outfit us now Nico would like, so you can see Hello Kitty behind us.”

She elaborated on how her day-to-day life has changed since the birth of her son.

“After he was born, I had to figure out how to train, how to breastfeed, how to travel around the world,” Meyers Taylor said. “He’s here with me right now. He travels great. Also, with my husband’s training, we’ve had to learn how to switch off. As any parent knows, you have to have a lot of patience because things are different day-to-day. What time I work out changes. What exactly my meal structure looks like changed. I’ve got to make sure he’s taken care of. Everything is changing and adapting. This has all been a learning process and I expect this season to be no different.”

Meyers Taylor gave birth to Nico a week before the world shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Many parents struggled, but Taylor highlighted the different challenges that she, as an athlete, had to face.

“I had this great plan of coming out, going to training, dropping my son off at his grandparent’s house, going to a mommy meet-up, mommy yoga between training stations and all this stuff. Then the world shut down,” Meyers Taylor said. “We couldn’t access gyms, we couldn’t do anything. It all became this blur of we’re going to try to get this weightlifting equipment. Okay, Nico’s going to be in the gym with us training. Also, he’s got special needs, so how are we going to get his therapy in?”

“We’ve gotten in a pretty good rhythm now, but anyone who’s a new parent or going through those things the first time is going to be challenging,” she added. “I think a lot of parents out there walked into this like, “Oh my goodness, I don’t know what to do.” It’s no different for me just because I’m an athlete. Maybe even more so, because you had a perfect plan about how your child’s life is going to go and Covid sure threw a rail into everything.”