Rochester native misses out on gold
KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia – Lauryn Williams is not certain where her track Olympic medals are located – she thinks maybe the silver from the 2004 Olympics is at her mother’s house – so it was not hard to believe her Wednesday night when she said that missing history by a measly tenth of a second was not especially disappointing.
Williams, a Rochester native, could have become the first woman to win gold medals in both the Summer and Winter Games. Instead, Williams, the U.S. track star turned bobsled brakeman, settled for silver as she and the pilot Elana Meyers lost their first-day lead with a few ill-timed bobbles that allowed the Canadians, Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse, to zip past.
Jamie Greubel and Aja Evans, in another U.S. sled, finished third and claimed the bronze.
Williams came to bobsled only last summer after another track athlete, the hurdler Lolo Jones, told her about her own transition to the winter sport.
“She said you could eat,” Williams recalled, laughing. “In track, I was always trying to keep my weight down. So, run as fast as you can and eat too? Sounded good to me.”
Although Williams failed to match Eddie Eagan – who won gold in boxing at the 1920 Summer Games and gold in bobsled at the 1932 Winter Games – she did join a tiny club. Williams, who won gold as part of the 4×100-meter relay team at the 2012 London Games, is one of only five athletes to reach the podium in both the Summer and Winter Games.
Meyers and Williams were last down the track in the fourth and final heat. The top U.S. pair had built a strong lead of 0.23 second after the two runs Tuesday but gave more than half of that advantage back in a bumpy third run. On the final trip, an early bump of the wall all but erased the Americans’ margin, and by the time they made the final turns they were in second place for the first time.
They finished with a total time of 3 minutes 50.71 seconds – one-tenth short of Canada’s winning mark.
Williams, 30, does not plan to continue as a winter athlete; financial planning is her next job, she said. History would have been lovely, but a gold medal was hardly necessary.
“I’m going to remember all this,” she said. “It’s about that. It’s not about the thing I get to hold in my hand.”