Minutes after watching the Olympic gold medal slip away from her by a fraction of a second, American bobsledder Elana Meyers described the loss as painful. A morning later, with some sleep to put things in perspective, she felt more upbeat about her silver medal victory.
“I’m feeling really good. We worked super hard for this medal,” she said Thursday on TODAY. “That’s what racing is all about. It’s about coming down to those hundreds of a second. We laid it all out there and hopefully we made our country proud.”
Meyers, 29, and partner Lauryn Williams had led the women’s bobsledding event until they were beat by 0.10 of second by Canadians Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse on their final run.
But the win was still historic. With American teammates Jamie Greubel and Aja Evans taking home the bronze, the evening marked the first time two U.S. women’s bobsleds have ever medaled at the Winter Olympics.
Watch the video: Bobsled bonanza
The victory also was historic for Williams in another way. The former track star, 30, became only the fifth Olympian to medal in both the Summer and Winter Games. She won a gold medal in relay in 2012 London, and a silver in the 100 meters in 2004 Athens.
“I never thought I would accomplish all this,” she said, crediting the support from her American fans. “It’s definitely taken a village to help me realize these goals and aspirations in such a short period of time.”
Asked if she had a preference between the Summer and Winter Games, Williams demurred and noted the unusually warm weather in Sochi, Russia.
"It's kind of like the Summer Olympics," she said.
Although teammates Lolo Jones, 31, and Jazmine Fenlator, 28, failed to medal, coming in 11th, they expressed elation for their colleagues.
"We're a family," Fenlator said, noting the group has been on tour since the end of December. "We're going to have each other’s back, and it was amazing to see them really prosper and get those medals."
Jones, known more as a hurdler than a bobsledder, said she's already looking ahead to the Summer Olympics in 2016.
"Definitely my focus, obviously, is track and field right now. I get seven days off, already in the process of losing weight," she said.
Jones famously packed on weight when she began her bobsledding training last fall, describing a daily diet that included four double bacon cheeseburgers from McDonald's to help her build up the bulk.
She noted that has changed. Back then, her teammates were watching her weight while she worked hard to gain it.
"They were like eating carrot sticks and I was like, (adding) 9000 calories, stuffing my face. And now I’m like, starving," she said. "I have to lose 15 pounds for track season."
