The Highs & The Lows

Happy Tuesday! As a reminder, Full Court Press is using sports to remind us of what once was good, and what could be again. The Winter Olympics are in full swing, providing breathtaking moments - both good and bad. Let’s dive in.

You have to check this story out if you haven’t already.

Growing up in Atlanta, Elana Meyers Taylor saw the 1996 Olympics take place in her hometown and had a dream to win a gold medal. She played collegiate softball at George Washington and tried out for the US Olympic Softball team.

“I put the weight of the world on me and just completely choked,” she said about that tryout.

Defeated, but not put out to pasture just yet, Meyers Taylor decided to pivot to another sport to keep her Olympic dreams alive. Bobsled.

Fast forward to 2026, and she entered the 2026 Winter Olympics as a 41-year-old mother of two boys. Her toddlers - both are deaf and one of them also has Down Syndrome - have given her new motivation and purpose in life after chasing a gold medal since she was a teenager.

The IOC doesn’t allow YouTube videos to be embedded externally, so click here to watch this sweet video about Meyers Taylor and her two sons.

She’s the all-time winningest female bobsledder with five medals to her name - three silver, two bronze, but no gold. In 2022, she was named a flag-bearer for the Opening Ceremonies… but had to drop out after testing positive for COVID.

She took the lead with her run, but had to wait for all competitors to finish before confirming the gold. Check out her reaction below to seeing her time clinched the elusive gold medal.

This had me in a pile of mush on the ground. Just an incredible story and an inspiration - someone who kept going and going and going for two decades.

I often come up short and just decide to pack it in (or react poorly… foreshadowing to the next story) when faced with adversity. Meyers Taylor became the oldest American to win gold at the Winter Olympics.

The amount of obstacles in her life is hard to fathom - mother, deaf children, one with special needs, coming up just short of your dream multiple times, competing in the same sport with the same goal for two decades.

I hope we can all have a little more Elana in us this week!

US-born, Norwegian skier Atle Lie McGrath’s grandfather, a former skier in his own right, passed away the night of the Opening Ceremonies after battling dementia.

Facing grief, McGrath jumped right into competing.

He took the lead after one run of the slalom, only to straddle a gate in his second run. Here’s the video.

What happened next was horrible - knowing he lost his shot at gold in the event, he just walked off the course and laid down in the snow.

Clearly a wreck emotionally, McGrath spoke to the media after making his way down the mountain.

As someone who also has thrown their ski poles at least once in the last calendar year, I watched this and immediately felt a wave of emotion. Here’s one of the best in the world at his sport battling grief and still trying to compete at the highest level (over half of the field didn’t finish either, as the conditions were tricky).

After watching the Elana Meyers Taylor story, you might think the Olympics are just full of incredible, happy stories. Sometimes, sports offer a glimpse into how we battle hardship - injuries that set us back (obligatory Lindsay Vonn reference), family challenges, unfair calls. Balancing the highs and the lows is just part of life.

Calling it a “meltdown” is fair, but it also oversimplifies the gravity of the situation. What’s he supposed to do? Ski down slowly and bow down to the Swiss gold medal recipient?

I respect McGrath a ton for battling through his emotions and giving it his best. Processing a loss like that, after an even bigger loss with his grandfather, is a near impossible task and I think he did the right thing for him in removing himself from the situation to gather his thoughts.

Do you think he should’ve handled himself differently? It’s easy to say “he could’ve/should’ve” without holding the weight of his emotions at the time of the race.

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Brandon