Bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor will get her Olympic moment as flag bearer after all.
The four-time Olympian was originally supposed to be one of the Team USA flag bearers for the Opening Ceremony alongside curler John Shuster, but she had to miss the ceremony after testing positive for COVID shortly after arriving in Beijing. Speedskater Brittany Bowe led Team USA in her place.
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee announced Friday morning that Meyers Taylor has been voted by her fellow members of Team USA to lead their delegation at the Closing Ceremony.
“I was so honored to be named the Opening Ceremony flag bearer, but after not being able to carry the flag, it’s even more humbling to lead the United States at the Closing Ceremony,” Meyers Taylor said in a release from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. “Congratulations to my fellow Team USA athletes on all their success in Beijing – I’m looking forward to carrying the flag with my teammates by my side and closing out these Games.”
The announcement came just as Meyers Taylor competed in the first two heats of two-woman bobsled. Meyers Taylor won the silver medal in the Olympic debut of women’s monobob competition at the Beijing Olympics and is hoping to add another medal.
According to Team USA, she is just the second U.S. athlete to have been elected as the Opening Ceremony and Closing Ceremony flag bearer, joining bobsled and skeleton athlete Jack Heaton. He carried the flag in both ceremonies in St. Moritz in 1948.
Without making any sort of official “this is it” declaration, Meyers Taylor is thinking about retirement and hinted that the women’s race may represent her final official time in a sled.
“There’s a good chance that it’s my last one,” Meyers Taylor recently said to the Associated Press.
The Closing Ceremony is Sunday, Feb. 20.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.