After winning bronze during the women’s bobsled event at the Winter Olympics, Elana Myers Taylor is now the world’s most decorated Black athlete.

The bronze medal marked number five for Elana, and it pushed her ahead of athlete Shani Davis’ who held the previous record with four medals. Taylor returned to the U.S. checking off major accomplishments, which include:

• Being the most decorated female bobsledder of all time
• Being the most decorated U.S. bobsledder of all time
• Being the oldest American female to win an Olympic medal
• Being the most decorated Black athlete in Winter Olympics

Sadly this may be the last time she makes an appearance at the Olympics as she has hinted that she may retire altogether. What is most inspiring about Taylor is that she never set out to break any bobsledding records or leave behind a trail-blazing career or become an icon for little girls worldwide to look up to. Bobsledding was her fallback plan, plan b if all else failed in softball. That’s right, Taylor initially dreamed of playing softball for Team USA.

Elana did not make the cut during Olympic tryouts. She felt she was ‘choking big time’ during her tryout and felt as if she had never swung a bag before. She was sent home where it was back to the drawing board, Elana didn’t let failure define her and she set her sights on plan b.

Being the daughter of a professional football player, she knew that giving up wasn’t an option. Taylor became inspired after her parents shared the story of another Black athlete Vonetta Flowers. Flowers became the first African American woman and the first Black athlete to win gold during the 2002 Winter Olympics. Following in the footsteps of Flowers in bobsledding, Taylor gave it everything she had.

“I feel that goals in sports, and life in general, seem much more real when you can see somebody like you doing them. If you can see it, you can believe it, and, then, you can become it.” Taylor said after her win in Beijing.

When she first started racing, she was the brakeman responsible for pushing off at the beginning of races. She quickly became the pilot, the person steering the bobsled ad it glides down tracks at 90 miles-per-hour.

Bobsledding was Taylor’s perfect match. She won four gold medals at the World Championships and then four medals across the Winter Olympics in 2010, 2014m and 2018. She almost didn’t make it to the event in Beijing when she tested positive for COVID-19.

“This has been an incredible Olympics starting off in isolation I had no idea what was possible but fortunately, I had a great team behind me who believed in me who believed that this was possible and I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome. I couldn’t have asked for a better Olympics and it just goes to show you that even when the cards are stacked against you if you have the right support behind you, you can still achieve great things,” Taylor said after medaling.

Her teammate honored her by selecting her to be Team USA’s flagbearer during the closing ceremony, equivalent to being a team captain.

Taylor had some words to say after hearing she broke a record.

“That is overwhelming. It’s so crazy to hear that stat and know that I’m part of a legacy that’s bigger than me.”

The 37-year-old athlete is looking forward to taking some time off because it would be hard to top her closing accomplishments. If she retires now, she still leaves a legacy for girls and women everywhere. She has shown girls and women that they can be the best in their field, even if it’s plan b.