This past season the women's bobsled team managed to keep 3 sleds on the World Cup tour. What do I mean by that? The World Cup tour is the highest circuit of bobsled races. It's the race circuit that the Olympic team is named from, and it consists of 8 races each year (this year it's actually 9), and you earn points for each place finish on the tour (1st place is 225 points, 2nd is 210, etc). These points add up and give an overall ranking, which not only ranks each sled but also ranks each nation. The top 4 nations are allowed 3 sleds on the World Cup tour, but only the top 2 nations get 3 sleds in the Olympics. Because it is so competitive to get 3 sleds at the Olympics, it's essential that we keep 3 sleds on the World Cup tour and this season despite having relatively new drivers (myself and Jazmine Fenlator) we were able to keep our 3rd sled heading into this season. However, despite that we were able to keep that sled, our federation can't afford to fund that sled on the World Cup tour this season. As the US women's bobsled team, we have decided that we are going to find a way to keep this sled on tour, as it's imperative in order to make our Olympic dreams come true.
As a team we're trying to sweep gold, silver, and bronze at the Olympics, so we're doing everything we can to make that happen, starting with fundraising. First, we're going to be holding a spaghetti dinner in Lake Placid, NY, along with a silent auction to raise some funds, which will be September 1. Second, for all those who aren't able to make it, you can take a ride with us! What do I mean by that? Well, you can put your name on our sleds for just $25 and 1/2 of the proceeds will go directly to helping us keep our USA 3 sled sliding, thereby helping us get to the Olympics. Not only will you help us reach our goal, but your name will be on a bobsled that is shown on tv worldwide through the 10 races of the season (9 World Cup races and World Championships). You can help us reach the top! For more information and to put your name on a sled, visit here: http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Bobsled-and-Skeleton-Federation/Donate/Share-the-Ride.aspx
Finally! After waiting 4 years for more memorable moments, the 2010 Summer Olympics have arrived! This is the first Olympics since I've went in 2010 and I've got to say watching it now has a whole new meaning. It was crazy watching the Opening Ceremony and feeling some of the things I felt walking through in 2010. Each medal ceremony reminds me what it was like to stand up there as a representative of the USA. Every single event reminds me what it was like to compete on the world's largest stage. It's so exciting!
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make the trip over to London to view the games firsthand (too much training to do to try to make 2014), but I can assure you I'm watching as much as possible. Between NBC's tv coverage (even though we don't have all the channels in the OTC) and the online coverage, I've watched quite a bit of coverage, and a lot of sports I haven't been able to see previously. Today alone, I've watched indoor and beach volleyball, rowing, cycling, weightlifting, gymnastics, field hockey, swimming, and water polo, and there's still day left!
Here at the Olympic Training Center, it's extra inspiring as I know everyone around me is training to reach those moments, to live their Olympic dream. Everyone crowds around the tvs whenever possible to take it all in. We even have it turned on during the weight room, which inspires everyone to push even more. We're all fired up here cheering for our Team USA counterparts, and each of us knows that after these 16 days, the world's eyes will be on us. We're next and the clock is counting down! Can't wait to train this week with another week of inspiring Olympic action ahead!
Two weeks ago I was named Women's Bobsled Athlete of the Year and also received the Athlete's Choice Award. The first is pretty self-explanatory but the second was an award voted on by my teammates. Now I'm not one to dwell on awards, as soon as a race ends I start thinking about the next one, and as soon as a season ends I'm also focused forward. However, these two awards I am especially honored about, but I have to revisit because of why I won them. This season was a truly difficult season for me. I started off the season with 2 crashes in as many weeks and a dismal performance at team trials. Dejected, I went to Europe questioning whether or not I should even be driving. Through the help of my teammates and coaches, I persevered, overcame, and grew. This season was difficult but I made it through, had good results, and even some fun at the end of the day, and I feel that all these struggles were crucial to putting me where exactly I need to be come 2014. However, none of this season would have been possible without the wonderful teammates I have. I truly believe I have the best ones in the world. Because of that, I wanted to share a little bit about the behind the scenes stuff that went on this season to show how awesome my teammates truly are. Of course you know the obvious ones, the brakeman who raced with me- Katie Eberling, Emily Azevedo, Brittany Reinbolt, and Ingrid Marcum, but there's so much more to the story, so here we go...
Katie Eberling- Her support never wavered. From the moment after push championships, when she agreed to race team trials with me, she supported me and believed in me. That kind of unwavering support is rare, but she was continually supportive, even when she was racing against me on other sleds (not to the point that she still didn't want to beat me though lol). If she was ever anything less than confident in what we could do, she never showed it. Not only did she race a majority of the Europa Cup races with me to get me qualified to go to Sochi, including the crazy one to put us over to qualify, she also as a rookie took on the task of being the sole brakeman representative in Sochi and handled it like a champ. It put me at ease knowing that I didn't have to worry about anything, and she went the extra mile to make sure I didn't. Things like that just can't be quantified, but they are truly the intangibles that win championships.
Emily Azevedo- The thing that sticks out the most is her team work. She not only helped a team full of rookies adjust to the World Cup tour, she also took run after run when we were down an alternate, despite the fact that she was our only returning Olympic brakeman. She, like Katie, raced two days back to back in two different countries to help qualify for Sochi, a feat that is no easy task but they both handled it like champs.
Brittany Reinbolt- What can I say about the girl who continually keeps me laughing? She really does add something special to the team. First, despite a poor finish at push championships, she inspired us all by fighting her way onto the World Cup team. She took more runs than perhaps any other brakeman, and with two unseasoned drivers, that was quite a task (I crashed her twice this season, let alone the other crazy trips I took with her). Every week she was broken and black and blue, but she continued to slide and continued to train to get better and push as hard as she could. She was an alternate, but she worked every day to get better. I believe though the best example of Brittany's commitment to team excellence can be shown through the Sochi experience. Despite not getting an opportunity to race on the World Cup team, Brittany drove to and from Switzerland and Germany so that the drivers and competing brakeman could rest. Not only did she drive, but she also took trips in both countries to ensure that the competing brakeman could get some rest. I will never forget her willingness to step up and take so much for the team this season, and only hope I could be as good of a teammate to her as she was to all of us.
Hillary Werth- She fought her way onto World Cup as well and was fighting to get a racing spot when tragedy struck. After a bad crash, I rushed down to her to check on her, and all she could focus on was the state of her driver and when she could get back in a sled again. The girl had doctors sticking IVs into her and other EMTs trying to cut off her clothes to treat her, yet she was focused on her teammate and trying to get back in a sled to race with her teammates. She even was asking me about racing with me that weekend! She exemplified how teammates should care for each other.
Ingrid Marcum- She raced with me my final team trials race. Afterwards, I was pretty dejected and upset, but she encouraged me. She told me story after story of instances in bobsled that basically proved its not how you start, its how you finish. She helped me try to put my team trials experience behind me, and move on to the next race.
Ida Bernstein- After my team trials, I was determined to get better and fix things. My sled had shipped to Europe, but I was offered to slide in another sled to get more trips. Mind you, I had crashed twice in two weeks and was now driving a sled I hadn't been in in a long time, and she took trip after trip with me so I could get more trips. No questions asked, she just kept sliding, which allowed me to get in the state of mind I needed to be in before heading over to Europe.
Nicole Vogt- I honestly didn't have much interaction with this particular brakeman, but she was always there to help when she was around, and continually lent a helping hand.
Jamie Greubel, Jazmine Fenlator, Megan Hill, Katelyn Kelly, and Bree Schaaf- My fellow drivers and competitors are the people who continually push me to be better. Each of them have encouraged me in various ways, whether it was through words or through their continued fight to become the best in the world. Jamie through her continued hard work and fighting, Jazmine for her relentless encouragement and heart, Megan and Katelyn through their constant support, and Bree for the wealth of experience she shares and tradition she helps continue. I am constantly inspired by my driving teammates by their persistence and their perseverance past an assortment of obstacles. Getting to Sochi will be the battle of a lifetime, but I'm blessed to be able to battle it out against these great competitors.
And if these brief epithets aren't enough to show the I have the best of teammates in the world, I could go on...but perhaps I'll save that for another blog in the future...
I'm sure you've seen the commercials and heard the slogan- my DeVry. Well, I'm please to announce that I am going back to school at the Keller Graduate School to get an MBA in finance. I was thinking about going back to school to study business, but had no idea how to do it and continue competing. Most online MBA programs are executive MBA programs, which mean you have to have significant work experience in the industry. Interestingly enough, GW does offer an MBA program for athletes, actors, and other celebrities, but unfortunately I wasn't invited to join this program. Anyway, so I was considering going back to school and emailed one of the residence managers here at the Olympic Training Center. She told me that DeVry University had recently signed on as a USOC sponsor to help athletes get degrees while competing. I inquired further about this program and next thing you know, I'm registering for classes! Crazy!
With finals next week, I would have completed my first full semester- which is two courses. So far, I'm enjoying the process quite a bit and am really enjoying learning more about the business world. I am enjoying this more than I did my other master's degree program and am learning tons! It's quite exciting to be learning something and enjoying it at the same time!
It'll take me a while to complete this degree, but I'm not in a hurry. With training full-time and working, DeVry has been very helpful in coordinating a schedule that works for me, and I'm very excited about what an MBA will mean for my future.
I will also be making several appearances for DeVry and doing different projects with them. This upcoming week, I'll be at the DeVry campus in Phoenix, AZ, as one of the athletes on the Road to London tour, a tour that celebrates DeVry's Team USA student-athletes. I'll also be working with them on the Mark Your Moments campaign, a Facebook app that helps you set and keep track of your goals (you can join too at http://sml.devry.edu/MYMSE).
I'll continue to keep you guys posted on my progress with my degree. But for now, finals are next week so I better get to studying!
Be sure to check out DeVry's website at http://www.devry.edu I'm not listed on the Team USA page yet, but I will be.
If you know me you know that I absolutely love coffee! It all started in college- those late nights of studying, juggling softball and working made the hot brew a necessity. What started as a great way to stay awake grew into a three venti-a-day addiction! I was obsessed and kept the habit until just recently...
Recently, my boyfriend made me stop drinking coffee. Why you ask? Well, caffeine can have many positive affects on athletic performance, but it can also negatively affect hydration levels. In my case, I was often having about 4 cups of coffee before breakfast and it usually made up most of my liquid consumption for the day, which most likely dehydrated me to the point that any benefits of the caffeine were outweighed by the massive amounts I was drinking. You see, hydration is key for any athlete. Power output drastically decreases with dehydration (you can google countless studies that give exact numbers). With the amount of caffeine I was consuming in the coffee, it was likely decreasing my power output and therefore negatively affecting my performance. Of course the easy decision appears to be to decrease my coffee consumption, but as a self-proclaimed coffee addict, it's not so easy. Knowing this, my boyfriend told me no more coffee, and I've been off coffee- cold turkey- for over a month now.
So what I have I noticed over the month? I am definitely more hydrated and my power output has increased, but it can't all be directly correlated to cutting out coffee. I have been working hard on the new programs and getting everything in order to train hard, so there's multiple factors to consider as far as power output is concerned. I do miss coffee- I love the smell of it, the taste of it, the feeling of a nice cup first thing in the morning. As an elite athlete though, there's things you must sacrifice in order to get where you want to go, and until I can limit myself to one cup a day and maintain my hydration level, I guess the coffee is another sacrifice in the name of bobsled.
With the 2012 Summer Olympics in London right around the corner, athletes are increasingly being scrutinized and judged based on their ability to perform in this 2 week event that occurs once every four years. As if athletes didn't feel the enough pressure from trying to win a medal for their country in front of billions of viewers worldwide, an opportunity that they may only have once despite a lifetime of training, they are increasingly feeling pressured to look a certain way while doing it. More and more articles have discussed the weight and size of various female athletes, stating some athletes are too fat, too muscular, or too big.
As public figures, athletes are subject to this kind of scrutiny, but is it really warranted? Take for example the case of Jessica Ennis, the British phenom Heptathlete who is expected to win gold in London. She may not be a size 2 model, but anyone who follows track and field can see that Ennis is clearly on the top of her game regardless of her weight or size. She was recently criticized by a British official as being "too fat" but recent performance in Austria (where she broke the British Heptathlon record), proves that size doesn't matter. Did I mention that Ennis is gorgeous; powerful, fit, and compact, the perfect combination for an elite female athlete? Read more about Ennis and body image in British sport in this article by Annabel Croft, a former elite British tennis player: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/9291962/Olympic-athletes-These-women-are-in-perfect-condition-so-why-call-them-fat.html
Body image is an inevitable discussion when it comes to female athletes. Athletes are put under pressure to look a certain way while performing at the highest level. What most people don't realize is that the requirements of various sports necessitate variety in body types. What looks great for a track athlete or gymnast, might not work for a bobsledder or a weightlifter for example. In the 75+ kg weight class for women in weightlifting, the women are large and in-charge and can sure move a ton of weight (much more than the critiques of the bodies of female athletes). In bobsled, although we try to maximize our weight to weight to power ratio, we have to weigh between 165-180lbs for our sport (weight flies down the track), which is far from a size 2 model.
So when is society going to stop calling female athletes fat and start looking at the amazing feats they are able to accomplish using their bodies, regardless of size? After all, both the smallest and the largest of us all have the opportunity to win medals, which makes the Olympics that much more beautiful.
My first agent created a website for me and operated the site. Unfortunately, after we parted ways, I never re-established control of the site. My former agent was very kind and even updated the site after I won Olympic bronze; but after that update, the site was left alone for quite some time. I tried to reacquire the site without any luck, and eventually the contract between my agent and the hosting site expired. I recently learned however, that once a site expires, hackers go and take the domain name, especially ones linked to "famous" people, and try to get those people to buy the domain name back! Crazy stuff- I had no idea this could happen! So now, the site www.elanameyers.com is being operated by a hacker who is waiting for me or Elena Meyers (a famous bike racer) to try to buy the domain name back. On the site, you can see stuff online about the two of us, which is strange to see. Well, I'm not one to give in to hackers, so I won't be buying the domain name anytime soon. I will get another website, but in the meantime, if you find yourself visiting www.elanameyers.com IT'S NOT ME!
