Bobsled driver Elana Meyers Taylor to join USOPC Board of Directors

Chalk up another big win for Elana Meyers Taylor this year. The bobsledder, already the most decorated Black Winter Olympian in history with three silver and two bronze medals, was voted onto the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) Board of Directors as an athlete representative.

Now she can be a driving force for athletes’ interests among the movers and shakers in the sports world.

Six months ago Meyers Taylor was elected to carry the flag for Team USA at the Closing Ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Games. She was also selected by her peers to carry the flag at the Opening Ceremony, but tested positive for COVID-19 and was unable to participate. Speedskater Brittany Bowe took her place, although Meyers Taylor is still regarded as the official flagbearer for both ceremonies.

The bobsled driver then came out of quarantine to win the silver medal in monobob, which was making its debut as an Olympic sport, and the bronze in the two-woman event.

Meyers Taylor, 37, said on Twitter she was “grateful and honored” to become a USOPC director. She brings a wealth of experience to the board room table, having medaled in four straight Winter Olympic Games.

After taking a break to give birth to son Nico, she continued to compete, bringing her family on the road with her, including to Beijing.

Meyers Taylor was elected to the board of directors by the USOPC Athletes’ Advisory Council (AAC) and will take her seat on Jan. 1, 2023.

“The board of directors is a highly accomplished group of individuals, and I am excited to work with them to serve all stakeholders – but most importantly the athletes,” Meyers Taylor said. “I am also honored to be taking over the board seat of fellow bobsledder Steve Mesler, who not only represented the athletes well but had a positive impact on the entire USOPC. I look forward to working to continue to improve the USOPC and to ensuring that we have the strongest national Olympic and Paralympic movements in the world.”

The AAC is entitled to fill three of the five athlete positions on the USOPC board. The other two athlete reps from the AAC are Brad Snyder (Paralympic swimming), whose term also expires this year, and Daria Schneider (Olympic fencing), whose term expires in 2024.

After an interview and vetting process with the AAC Nominations and Elections Committee, the AAC general body — composed of athlete representatives from all national governing bodies — voted for the new director. Meyers Taylor’s four-year term will start on Jan. 1, 2023. She is then eligible for another four-year term subject to a vote of retention by the AAC.

The USOPC said it subjects each potential board member to a strict background check and they are screened for any conflicts of interest that could potentially interfere with acting in the best interest of Team USA athletes, the organization and its stakeholders.

”We are thrilled that Elana Meyers Taylor will represent USOPC athletes on the Board of Directors,” said Mark Ladwig, chair of the AAC. “Elana has a true understanding of the movements and an unbridled passion for all sports, and she will be an excellent athlete voice on the Board.”

Off the bobsled track, Meyers Taylor has been an advocate for gender and racial parity in sport, while also working for access and support for moms in elite competition. She wrote in 2018 she was “proud to represent Team USA as a female, but it also got me thinking about what it means to represent Team USA as a female. She added she has “a responsibility to fight for equality for those who can’t, to speak up for women in this country and around the world. You have a responsibility to be a role model to young women who follow in your footsteps — to show them to be proud of who they are, what they look like and what they can do.”

Meyers Taylor has already held a prestigious role as a past president of the Women’s Sport Foundation. Meyers Taylor was also an athlete director on the USA Bobsled and Skeleton Board of Directors and was appointed to the Georgia Council for Developmental Disabilities in her home state.

”Elana is a great champion and an excellent representative of Team USA – we are thrilled to welcome her to the USOPC board,” said Susanne Lyons, the USOPC board chair. “Elana was previously elected flag bearer for the U.S. delegation at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing by her fellow athletes. Her election now as an athlete representative to the board is further testament to the great esteem in which she is held by her fellow athletes. She is dedicated to her sport, to her family, and I have no doubt she will be an incredibly powerful voice for athletes in our Olympic and Paralympic community.”

Meyers Taylor has also won eight World Championships medals, including four golds.

In addition to the three athletes elected by the AAC, there are also two at-large athlete members. Donna de Varona and John Naber, both Olympic champion swimmers, fill those positions on the 18-member USOPC board. Three directors represent the National Governing Bodies Council and there are five independent members. The USOPC CEO, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation chair, and American members of the International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee are ex officio members of the board.