Tuesday, February 24, 2026
-Bill Crane-
The first Olympics I specifically remember were the 1972 Summer Games in Munich, Germany. The swimming medals and records of American Mark Spitz (7 Gold Medals) and the seemingly contortionist gymnastic vaults, moves and floor exercises of Russia’s Olga Korbut, were juxtaposed against the tragic kidnapping and murder of eleven Israeli athletes and coaches by a Palestinian group called Black September, which almost ended the modern Olympiad. During the 1976 games, the world was charmed by Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci and her series of perfect 10 judging scores, an Olympic first at the age of 14.
The 1976 Montreal Games introduced me to the sport of decathlon through the story and victory of then Gold Medal winner, U.S. athlete Bruce Jenner. Never much of an athlete myself, I found more interest in the biographies and back stories of the athletes, their perseverance, and years of pushing themselves, often from childhood, to thrive, survive and become champions in their specific sport. In those days, through the lens of ABC News Wide World of Sports, the biographer, narrator and story teller was sports journalist Jim McKay, with the backing and full support of ABC sports maestro, Roone Arledge. At least for me, these biopics and near mini-documentaries became more interesting than the Games themselves.
ABC maintained the franchise for decades, building its preeminence in sports broadcasting, still evidenced by its creation of ESPN and its offspring. In much the same way an Olympic athlete would be aware and wary of their greatest competitors, NBC Sports saw the benefit of owning global and U.S. domestic broadcast rights to this rating juggernaut. Also by the early 90s, the International Olympic Committee had bifurcated the Summer and Winter games to every two years, alternating and no host city was any longer expected to host both Olympiads. As the Olympics moved to NBC, the story telling shifted to Bob Costas’s more humourous and introspective style of telling back-stories.
And Living an Olympics Backstage
And due to Atlanta winning the Centennial Olympic Games bid in 1988 to host the Summer Games in 1996, I was able to experience the ‘backstage’ of an Olympiad. The funding, development, and siting of venues, the legacy construction of fan gathering spaces such as Centennial Olympic Park, as well as all the political drama and challenges surrounding hosting an event of this magnitude. My interest in those biopics, during the Winter and Summer Games did not wane. I learned of the training challenges for quadruple Gold track and field medalist Carl Lewis during the 1984 games in Los Angeles, and later for the Michael Jordan and basketball “Dream Team” which swept the 1992 Games in Barcelona, as well as repeating their Gold in Atlanta in 1996 (I was there for that one).
During the Summer 2008 Games, U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps would surpass Mark Spitz’s earlier record winning 8 swim competition Golds. And more recently, I was inspired by the back-story of UGA Gym Dawg, Simone Biles and her seeming endless string of 11 Olympic Golds and 30 world titles. But a pattern had begun to emerge for me as well. Most of these athletes would see their careers end by 30, and the years of training and sacrifice came at a price. Later Olympiads would return to tell the later life stories of prior champions, Olga Korbut would become a gymnastics coach in Georgia. Olympic gymnastic darlings Korbut and Comaneci would each go public with the tragic stories of sexual abuse, Korbut even referred to her training as sexual slavery, by their longtime coaches. The luster of the medals seemed to become, at least to me, or more than an occasional price too high to pay.
Yet Georgia Winners Still Grab My Attention
And now, another fellow Georgian instead reminds me that no matter the obstacle, anything is still possible. Elana Meyers Taylor, of Douglasville, Georgia, is a 41-year-old mother of three children, two with special needs, expert in the demanding sport of mono (single) bobsledding. Her husband, Nic, is also a Men’s Olympic Monobob athlete. Elena was competing in the 2026 Winter Games in Milan, her fifth Olympiad, Meyers Taylor had won five prior medals: three silver and two bronze. With the Gold in 2026, Meyers Taylor became the oldest women in U.S. history to score a winter Gold, and yet her teammate and close competitor, Kaillie Humphries, is only one year her junior and was also the defending Gold Medal champion from 2022. This time Humphries would take the Bronze.
“I gave birth a year and a half ago, so I was not fully expecting this. You get a lot of people that like to write you off as soon as you reach 40. It’s all downhill from there…is what you hear. I think Elana and I are both proof that that’s not true,” said Humphries to NBC Sports after her win and Meyers Taylor’s gold. Both women in fact thrive in a sport that goes ALL downhill at speeds that can rival NASCAR…on ice.
Meyers Taylor lives in a state and region where snow and ice are rarities, competing in a sport which requires both. She has a full-time job, and with her husband is raising three children, one of which is deaf and the other with Down syndrome. As a loving parent to a special needs child of our own, I can attest to that being alot. And yet Meyers Taylor not only persevered in this sport, she thrived. Although her teammate was also one of her closest competitors globally, the training biopics and their medal ceremony—where the two now hold 10 Olympic medals between them—showed that their bond and fellowship is even stronger.
Never Too Late
“I didn’t need it…,” Meyers Taylor said, “But I wanted it.”
Well Elena, you earned it. As she wrapped herself in a U.S. Flagging after emerging from the Monosled for warmth like a towel, she watched the clock chronicle her record time, fractions of a second better than her field of competitors. In that moment of elation, it was hard to tell which provided her more warmth: that flag or her rising spirits. I hope that iconic moment, followed by millions of Mom’s worldwide high-fiving one and other, demonstrated once again, where there is a will…there is a way, and for excellence and pursuit of life goals, it is never too late. I also hope that the endorsement deals which follow this victory and that iconic moment, are as lucrative for Meyers Taylor as they were for Spitz, Jenner, Lewis, Biles and the others. Her backstory is just as inspiring, but her mid-life day to day obstacles to staying on top of her game are even more worthy of smiles and remembrance. Welcome home Elena Meyers Taylor, looking forward to that parade in your honor in Douglasville.
