Competing in her fifth Olympics with five medals already to her credit, GW's Elana Meyers Taylor is finally golden! 

Taking home the gold on Monday in Cortina, the former George Washington softball player tied Bonnie Blair's U.S. Winter Olympics medal record by an American woman with her sixth, adding to her collection that already included three silvers and two in bronze. 

The most decorated athlete in U.S. bobsleigh history and the most decorated Black Winter Olympian in history, Meyers Taylor added to a resume of dominance as the premier U.S. slider in history. 

Her performance also tied her for second in Winter Olympic medals by a U.S. athlete in history, trailing only speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno's eight.  

GW's first-ever softball recruit and only player in program history with her number retired, her Olympic journey that started with a bronze in Vancouver in two-woman bobsled in 2010 has seen her medal in every Games since.

Fittingly in monobob, an event she helped push for Olympic status until it debuted in 2022, was the event that brought her to megastardom on the track in gold form. 

Elected by fellow U.S. teammates to the be the country's opening ceremony flag bearer in 2022, but having missed the ceremony due to Covid, Meyers Taylor carried the flag in Beijing at the closing ceremonies. With one event to go in Cortina, the Douglasville, Ga., native - already an inspiration beyond the sport - can top Blair's women's U.S. record in the two-woman event with medals awarded on Feb. 21. 

At 41 and a mother of two, Meyers Taylor and her husband, fellow bobsledder Nic, have two sons, Nico and Noah. Nico was born with Down syndrome and Noah was born deaf, like his big brother, but the Taylors could feel the cheers ringing all the way from D.C. to Georgia to Italy on Monday, as the family defines living with purpose and bringing exposure to the competitive spirit the excels in the face of all challenges.