Tuesday, February 09, 2010

What's A Nice Girl From Georgia Doing In the Back of a Bobsled?

It isn't often that you get to hear about somebody from the south participating in the Winter Olympics, but this year we have a young lady from Georgia who will be competing as a member of the two woman bobsled team.
Elana Meyers began the sport of bobsled in 2007, making the national team her rookie season. In 2008 she won her first World Cup medal, a bronze with driver Shauna Rohbock. She followed the performance with a gold medal at the inaugural World Cup in Whistler, Canada. At the 2009 World Championships, Meyer pushed with driver Shauna Rohbock to win silver.
Since Elana is from my neck of the woods a little more information about her. She is the daughter of former NFL and Atlanta Falcon's running back Eddie Meyers. She grew up playing softball, which she did in college and then professionally for a while. When the Olympics got tired of handing gold medals to the USA softball team they decided to drop the sport. Elana had a dream of being an Olympian, so if she couldn't compete in the sport she was probably best at, she decided to find something that would let her compete.

A chance meeting somewhere with somebody who suggested maybe she ought to look at bobsledding and as they say, the rest is history.

I wish her, and all of our Olympians, the best of luck.

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