Elana Meyers Taylor is one of 67 athletes and team officials who have tested positive for the coronavirus after arriving in Beijing since Saturday.
But instead of settling in and training for the 2022 Winter Games, the 37-year-old is stuck alone in a hotel room following a positive test for Covid-19 two days after her arrival in the Chinese capital. “I am asymptomatic and currently at an isolation hotel, and yes I am completely isolated,” the three-time Olympic medalist said in a social media post Tuesday. Taylor, who won two silvers and a bronze at previous Olympics, is a two-time women’s bobsled world and overall World Cup champion. And she just ranked No.1 in both the women’s monobob and the two-women’s bobsled World Cup series. She traveled to Beijing with her nearly 2-year-old son, Nico, and her husband, Nic Taylor, who is an alternate bobsledder for Team USA. At her fourth Olympics, Taylor had hoped to stand on the podium with her son in her arms. Now, it’s uncertain if she will be able to take part in the Games — but she is keeping her hopes up. “Getting to the Olympics is never easy, and this time, as a new mom, it has been the most challenging, but also, incredibly rewarding, to be able to show that it can still be done,” Taylor wrote on Instagram. “It’s been an incredible wave of positivity that I’ve been riding to a while so I’m going to continue to do that. This is just the latest obstacle that my family and I have faced on this journey, so I’m remaining optimistic that I’ll be able to recover quickly and still have the opportunity to compete.” The bobsled events don’t start until February 13, but Taylor will need to return two consecutive negative tests before that if she is to compete. Other athletes are facing a tighter deadline. Hong Kong skier Audrey King has just eight days to return to the Games from isolation before her women’s slalom alpine skiing event starts.
