THE REAL COST OF CHASING GOLD

Summary

Welcome to the Party – Episode Summary

THE REAL COST OF CHASING GOLD

Air date: February 12, 2026
Host: Treat Media (Julie Foudy & Abby Wambach)
Special Guest: Alana Meyers Taylor
Notable Guest: Billie Jean King (regular appearances)

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Overview

This episode dives into the true costs—physical, financial, emotional, and societal—of chasing Olympic gold, especially as a woman and a parent. Soccer icons Julie Foudy and Abby Wambach kick off with a roundup of major women’s sports feats, then share a deeply personal segment about mental health in college athletes. The episode’s core is a raw, powerful conversation with bobsled star Alana Meyers Taylor, who opens up about breaking barriers, representation, motherhood, disability, and the sacrifices behind her unprecedented fifth Olympic appearance.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Opening Reflections on Mental Health & the Katie Meyer Story

(02:14 - 06:00)

• Abby praises Julie’s E60 documentary on Stanford soccer captain Katie Meyer, who died by suicide in 2022.
• Julie emphasizes the importance of the documentary for parents and students, noting:

  “It allowed space for conversation that I wasn’t even planning on having.” — Abby Wambach (02:09)

• Julie previews a forthcoming interview with Katie's parents, aiming to foster change in college disciplinary actions.
• Key takeaway: The segment highlights the need to talk openly about mental health struggles in athletics and the hope for institutional reform.

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2. Women’s Sports Highlights & Headlines

(07:20 - 18:14)

• Elizabeth Laemmle wins Olympic gold in women’s moguls at age 20, first US 1-2 finish in freestyle skiing history.
• Jalen Kauf grabs silver after a comeback from 24th in qualifying.
• Lindsey Vonn suffers a career-ending crash yet delivers an inspirational IG post on risk, dreams, and courage.

  “The only failure in life is not trying.” — Lindsey Vonn (read by Julie Foudy, 09:42)

• USA Mixed Curling Team (Corey Dropkin & Cory Thiesse) earns first-ever US Olympic medal (silver) in event.
• USA women’s hockey team delivers first Olympic shutout vs. Canada; Layla Edwards becomes first Black woman to score for US team.
• Abby shares she’ll attend the Olympic finals in Milan and promises an on-site episode update.

Timestamped Highlights:

• 07:20: Abby’s blow-by-blow recap of moguls history
• 09:10: Lindsey Vonn’s injury and reflection on risk
• 11:57: USA Curling’s silver, logistical mishaps, and the pride of Duluth, MN
• 14:50: Layla Edwards’ milestone goal in ice hockey
• 15:26: Adorable moment as puck flies to Kendall Coyne Schofield’s family
• 17:04: Olympic events to watch and upcoming key competitions

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3. Alana Meyers Taylor: Olympian, Mother, Trailblazer

(23:08 - 45:32)

a) Introduction: Myers Taylor’s Record-Breaking Pursuit

• Four-time Winter Olympian, three silvers, two bronzes; most decorated Black athlete in Winter Olympic history.
• Could become the most decorated US woman in Winter Olympic history (tie or surpass Bonnie Blair, depending on event outcomes).
• Carries the “Myers Taylor Traveling Circus”: two young sons (both deaf, one with Down syndrome), spouse, and a nanny—all on tour.

b) Surprising Path to Bobsled

• Dreamed of softball Olympic stardom, missed the team after a “worst tryout in the history of tryouts” (27:10).
• Turned to bobsled after her parents literally “Googled bobsledding” for her.
• “It all started in a failed softball career.” — Alana Meyers Taylor (28:33)

c) The Real Physical Toll

• Bobsledding involves G-forces up to 8 Gs, likened to “controlled chaos.”

  “My back is trashed… between bobsledding for close to 20 years and pregnancies, I don’t know what I’m going to do post-bobsled.” — Alana Meyers Taylor (30:47)

• Athletes require months-long breaks to recover physically between seasons.

d) Gender Equity & Barriers in Bobsled

• Men long had two Olympic disciplines (two-man, four-man); women only got one (two-woman) until “monobob” was recently introduced.
• Monobob: One athlete, one sled, same weight as two-person; originally a development tool, now an Olympic event.
• Women’s fight for more medal opportunities shifted the sport’s landscape.

e) Life on Tour as a Mother of Two

• Travels with two young sons (aged 5 and 3, both Deaf, one with Down syndrome), and a nanny.
• Parent advocacy:

  “I want to show them that you can go out there and fight for your dreams and you can go out there and overcome obstacles—no matter what the world says to you.” — Alana Meyers Taylor (36:02)

• Family’s primary language is American Sign Language.
• Breaking new ground: Very rare for Olympians to travel with children and paid child-care.

f) The Shocking (Financial) Cost of Chasing Olympic Dreams

• There’s little to no institutional or Olympic funding for child care, forcing athletes to self-sponsor.
• “I won’t walk away with a check from bobsled. I’ll walk away with some debt. But… I can’t pass up this experience.” — Alana Meyers Taylor (39:48)
• Basic equipment still costs thousands per event.
• Athlete-organized grants (For All Moms, Alicia Montano/Allyson Felix initiatives) play an essential support role.
• Growing acceptance: She notes the first fathers bringing children on tour—another cultural shift in sport.

g) The Impact on Her Kids and Others

• Hopes her children will “attack the track of their lives” inspired by seeing their mother face and surmount challenges (44:08).
• Notes positive feedback from athletes who, after meeting her kids, are “no longer afraid” of the idea of raising children with disabilities.

h) Closing Out

• Julie and Abby praise Alana as a model of grit, courage, and revolutionary motherhood.
• Abby laments the financial inequities Olympians still face and asks how/if listeners can help; Alana emphasizes advocacy and athlete-led mutual support as crucial next steps.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Julie to Abby about the Katie Meyer doc:

  “I do hope… you will watch it. It's no longer under a paywall… so you can learn what happened.” (03:27)

• Alana on the sudden knowledge of her historic status:

  “You never really know about those stats. Those are all things people tell you… like you’re the only person to win a race on a Tuesday in the 6am hour with your left shoe untied.” (23:30)

• Alana on why she keeps going:

  “After I won my first medal in 2010, I thought I'd done everything there was to do in life… Of course we know, especially as female athletes, that's not true.” (25:45)

• Abby on the physical toll:

  “My back is trashed… I don’t know what I’m going to do post bobsled…” (30:47)

• Alana on representation:

  “It's my job as a mom to model that for them. So then when that person comes up to them and tells them no, that they don't listen at all. And literally they can't listen because they're deaf.” (36:32)

• Julie: “You are, like, the Joy Fawcett of bobsledding.” (43:48)
• Alana on breaking barriers:

  “The long belief in our sport is if you're a dad, you leave your kids at home… Now… even fathers feel like it's okay to travel with their kids on tour. We've come a long way.” (42:15)

• Alana on financial barriers:

  “I just dropped six grand on a set of runners, and I don’t even know if those runners will be the runners I need for the Olympic Games…” (42:48)

• Abby, at end:

  “It’s not fair that you’re going to be walking away potentially with any kind of debt as an Olympian like that. Like, that’s making me very upset right now.” (40:49)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 02:15 – 06:00: Katie Meyer mental health & college athletics discussion
• 07:20 – 18:14: Women's sports highlights, fun stories, and Olympic previews
• 23:08 – 45:32: In-depth interview with Alana Meyers Taylor (career, motherhood, representation, financial realities)
• 35:44 – 37:04: Alana describes “Myers Taylor Traveling Circus” and motherhood on Olympic tour

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Tone and Style

• Warm, irreverent, deeply supportive, and honest.
• Hosts root for women’s sports and athletes, mixing humor (“Party People!”) with intense seriousness when spotlighting tough topics.
• Collective “real talk” underscores both the joys and harsh realities faced by women athletes.

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For New Listeners

If you haven’t heard this episode, you’ll come away with a nuanced understanding of Olympic bobsledding, the unsung sacrifices of female athletes with families, the landscape of women’s winter sports, and how representation on the world stage reverberates far beyond medal counts. Alana’s authenticity, the hosts’ championing of hard conversations, and a commitment to community over competition give this episode a powerful—and fun—sense of purpose.

Transcript

[Abby Wambach]

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[Alana Meyers Taylor]

Head to your nearest Firehouse subs or.

[Abby Wambach]

Order on the app and try the French dip before it's gone. Limited time at participating Firehouse Subs restaurants while supplies last.

[Julie Foudy]

This episode is brought to you by Peloton. Break through the busiest time of year with the brand new Peloton Cross Training Tread Plus. Powered by Peloton iq. With real time guidance and endless ways to move, you can personalize your workouts and train with confidence, helping you reach your goals in less time. Let yourself run, lift, sculpt, push, and go explore the new peloton cross training tread [e-mail] party people, buckle up and get your bobsledding helmets on. Alana Meyers Taylor. When you're watching on tv, you're like.

[Abby Wambach]

Oh, that looks so smooth, elegant.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

When I started bobsledding and when I started his Olympic journey and whatever. I never, like, ever thought I'd be where I am right now. I'm not an adrenaline junkie. I don't like roller coasters. I actually get motion sick. And quite a few people in our sport do.

[Julie Foudy]

I was, like, wanting to vomit in this sled. I got it. I was like, ba, ba, ba, ba.

[Abby Wambach]

Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

Attention.

[Abby Wambach]

The party is about to commence.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

Welcome to the party.

[Julie Foudy]

What's up, party people? I'm Julie Foudy.

[Abby Wambach]

And I'm Abby Wambach. What's up, Abigail?

[Julie Foudy]

Coming up later in the show, Olympian Alana Myers Taylor is competing in in her fifth. Yes, count them, five. Five. Fifth Olympics. She's also happens to be the most decorated black athlete in Winter Olympic history, and we slowed her down for a quick convo before she headed to the game. So you don't want to miss this. I'm so excited for that.

[Abby Wambach]

Jules, I'm so proud of you and impressed because I watched kids Katie's save this weekend. Your 30 for 30. Is it a 30 for 30?

[Julie Foudy]

It's an E60.

[Abby Wambach]

An E60. That's right. Okay. ESPN's E60 about Katie Meyer and that whole story, and it was so beautiful and hard and horrifying and, I don't know, you just. I felt like you gave us the space to feel all the feelings, and we watched it with our daughter, which, if you have a child who is in or going to school, any school, whether you're an athlete or not, sit down and watch this with your kid. It allowed space for conversation that I wasn't even planning on having. So I just wanted to say thank you.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

You are.

[Abby Wambach]

You're like a hero for getting this out there, especially being a Stanford grad and kind of talking about this story and exposing Stanford in the right ways. I just. I'm proud of you.

[Julie Foudy]

Aw, thank you. Oh, it is a hard watch. It's the hardest piece and story I've ever done.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

And for those of you who don't know who Katie Meyer is.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

She was.

[Julie Foudy]

A Stanford soccer player. She was the captain. She tragically died by suicide almost four years ago in 2022. And I had met her and did not know her well, but I had met her before and really wanted to tell her story because she was just life personified, a, you know, vibrant, and she was the captain, and she was a role model for so many. She was joyful, she was feisty. She was all the things everyone always talked about. Katie possibly being a president one day of the United States and not saying it as a joke. It was like, no, she could do that. She was about to graduate and wanted to go on to Stanford Law School. So it is. I will just say, I do hope, as Abby, as you said, that you will watch it. It's no longer under a paywall. If you don't have ESPN, you can watch it on YouTube and just Google Katie Meyer's story. There's a shorter version, but I highly recommend watching the full version, which is about 48 minutes, so you can learn what happened.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

And.

[Julie Foudy]

And hopefully the idea of doing this story was that no other family, Steve and Gina, are her incredible, amazing parents. No other family has to go through this. And the good news is, is that.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

The.

[Julie Foudy]

The wrongful death lawsuit that the Myers filed against Stanford was settled recently at the end of January. And as Steve said to me, and we can finally put our swords down because we love the Stanford community and we.

[Abby Wambach]

And.

[Julie Foudy]

And Katie loved Stanford. And so, yeah, we're in. We're telling you all of this because we are going to have Gina and Steve Meyer, Katie's parents, on the pod at the end of February. So go check it out if you can, and go hug your kids.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

All right, Abs. Thank you for watching that. I appreciate that.

[Abby Wambach]

It was amazing. I just, like, I'm so impressed. It's amazing. And it's. It's a. It's a public service to all parents that are sending their kids to college. Sit down, watch your kids, hug your kids. It's really, really important.

[Julie Foudy]

Most importantly, hopefully there will be change that happens within the universities, disciplinary actions and especially at Stanford. So, yeah, and I can't wait to talk to the Myers and catch up with them. They're amazing humans. All right, coming up, we're going to talk to another amazing hu. Human. We are going to talk to one of the most courageous athletes we know because y'. All. A bobsled run has been described as 90 miles an hour of controlled chaos. Literally no suspension, no forgiveness, just pure ice and G forces slamming your body while you try to thread a 400 pound rocket through turns the width of. And if you, you've seen it on tv, it's not wide. A yoga mat, actually. As bobsledding legend Stephen Holcomb put it, it's like driving a car on ice while someone punches you in the kidneys. And we've got, and we've got one of the best business now, five time Olympian Alana Myers Taylor. She'll be hitting the track this Sunday in the monobob and later next week, the two women on February 20th and 21st. But before we get to Alana, let's get this party started with the highlights and headlines you'll want to celebrate this week in women's sports. Do you want to go first?

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah, I do. Okay. So usa.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

Mm.

[Abby Wambach]

We go. Gold, silver in women's moguls. Let's go, Elizabeth. Yes. Elizabeth Laemmle won gold with an 82.3, becoming Olympic champion at just 20 years old.

[Julie Foudy]

Crazy.

[Abby Wambach]

Tish just turned 20 and delivering the first US 1, 2 finish in women's freestyle skiing history. Congratulations, Elizabeth Laemmle. Jalen Kauf grabbed silver, matching her Beijing silver from four years ago. Jules so Laemmle, first time Olympian and the youngest member of American moguls team. She trailed the defending Olympic champion, Jakara Anthony from Australia by less than a point in early qualification and then delivered. She delivered the cleanest, most aggressive turn run of the night in the final. Okay. And in the moguls turns count for 60% of the score. So I don't know much, but I think the turns are the times where their knees jam straight into their bouncing and they're like bam, bam, bam, bam.

[Julie Foudy]

And they're so graceful, it feels so.

[Abby Wambach]

Aggressive and so intense, but they're their body and the line of their body is the same and their knees are just going. It's incredible. To watch, it's like. It feels like a fake feat of physics. I don't understand how this is happening.

[Julie Foudy]

That's a good way of putting it.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah. And. And also, Koff had the. The had to battle back after sitting 24th in the first round of qualifying, forcing her into second qualifier just to reach the final, and then still fought her way on to the podium. Congratulations, you two. We're so glad you're bringing home gold and silver for the U.S. yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

Love it. Okay. An update on Lindsey Vaughn after her horrifying crash. It turns out she suffered a complex tibia fracture during the women's downhill race as. As we all saw after clipping that gate just seconds into her run. And they said the injury is stable but will require multiple surgeries. Her IG post after the crash in part said, and I love this to all the haters, I also knew that racing was a risk. And similar to ski racing, we take risks in life. We dream, we love, we jump, and sometimes we fall. Sometimes our hearts are broken. Sometimes we don't achieve the dreams we know we could have. But that is also the beauty of life. We can try. I tried. I dreamt. I jumped. I hope if you take away anything from my journey, it's that you all have the courage to dare greatly. Life is too short not to take chances on yourself, because the only failure in life is not trying to. I believe in you, just as you believed in me.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah. I also saw that she said, you know, she decided to take a shorter line, like a more aggressive. The aggressive line. Right. And she's like, this is the difference between five inches, you know? But she decided to take it because she knew that she needed to make up time, and that was, like, a decision she made, you know? So we. We are sending our healing vibes. I know what it's like to have a broken tibia. Not a complex one, but I know what it's like to have broken your tibia. And probably she's going to need some hardware put in there. And just sending you so much love, Lindsay.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah. And her dad, Lindsay's dad said there will be no more ski races for Lindsey Vonn, at least if I have anything to say about it. I get that, Dad. I get that. He's like, you're done. According to my book, I. I hear that.

[Abby Wambach]

I feel that way. I'm like, oh, come on.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

Okay.

[Abby Wambach]

But who knows? She's. She's a fighter. Who knows?

[Julie Foudy]

Also in skiing, Michaela Shifrin and Breezy Johnson finished just off the podium, fourth in the 2026 Winter Olympics Alpine team combined event, narrowly missing that podium by.066. Yeah. Seconds.

[Abby Wambach]

That's like no time.

[Julie Foudy]

I know. But fear not, Shiffrin and Johnson are not done. They will continue to compete at these games, so it's not over for them yet. Plus, fellow Americans Jacqueline Wiles and Paula Molson took home the bronze medal in the event. So still good news, party people.

[Abby Wambach]

Yes, Done. We are going to turn to USA Curling mix doubles. They grabbed the silver medal. Or as Julie likes to say, it's. They grabbed the white gold. Corey Dropkin and Corey tc AKA Girl Corey and AKA Boy Corey took home silver and became the first Americans to earn a curling medal in the Olympics Mixed doubles. I think it was really incredible because they knocked out the defending champs against Italy in Italy. And I don't know if you saw that, Jules, but it was so incredible to watch because it was a beautiful shot at the end. I don't know if they're called shots, but it was this beautiful moment.

[Julie Foudy]

I think they're called throws.

[Abby Wambach]

Throws. Okay. Because. Yeah, okay.

[Julie Foudy]

I did my explainer video.

[Abby Wambach]

It was incredible. So go back and watch that. That. That match. Before they got to the gold medal round and unfortunately eventually losing 6 to 5 to Sweden, their bus, this is such a great interesting. Was caught in heavy traffic on the way to the game and they asked the driver if they should just get out and walk. Luckily he let us. So girl Corey, they just walked. Girl Corey said, right. So then. Then she said it had nothing to do with their loss. And I love that she's like taking complete accountability. TC Became the first US Female curler to win an Olympic medal. The two Coreys are from Duluth, Minnesota. And. And for me, this was like extra special. And in the state that's been through so much lately, I just want to make them know that how proud we are. We see you as American heroes and we are so proud of you.

[Julie Foudy]

All right. And then finally in our party starter abs Team USA.

[Abby Wambach]

My gosh.

[Julie Foudy]

Canada in women's hockey. Oh, gosh. 50 win over Canada to finish the preliminary round. And that's the first time the US has shut out Canada in Olympic history.

[Abby Wambach]

It's amazing, right?

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

Yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

Canada, to be fair, was with. Without their team captain, Marie Philippe Poulain, who has. Her nickname is Captain Clutch. That tells you everything you need to know. She has been the go to in like the last 500 Olympics. I feel like this woman has scored every goal for them. She's always crushing the souls of the US Players because she comes in so clutch on so many plays. She didn't play, unfortunately. And I know the US US Would want her to play as well in that game against the US because she. She suffered and a lower body injury in the first period against Czechia on February 9th. So hopefully she'll be healthy again and back. But great news. Layla Edwards, the first black woman to compete on a U.S. olympic hockey team, scored her first Olympic goal.

[Abby Wambach]

It was a banger, too. It was so good.

[Julie Foudy]

Oh, yeah. And it was the third straight shutout in a row for the U.S. they've outscored their opponents 21 to 1 in those first four games. So quarterfinals are next. And as Kendall Coyne said to us Schofield when I said, y' all been crushing Canada, I don't wanna, you know, I don't wanna get ahead of ourselves. But what does that mean? She was like, Julie, one game at a time.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah, right.

[Julie Foudy]

And perhaps the cutest moment of the Olympics.

[Abby Wambach]

Get out of here with her son.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah. When that puck like flew into the crowd and it flew right to Michael Schofield, Kendall's husband, and Drew and then they. Drew was holding it and. And Michael held, held, Drew up. The two year old like lions king.

[Abby Wambach]

The crowd King.

[Julie Foudy]

Yes.

[Abby Wambach]

Yes. It was so sweet, like jewels. Guess what?

[Julie Foudy]

What?

[Abby Wambach]

I think I'm going to a game because I'm going to Milan on Saturday.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

Yes.

[Abby Wambach]

I'm going to the game.

[Julie Foudy]

Which game?

[Abby Wambach]

I think on the 16th.

[Julie Foudy]

The final.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah. So we are going to be recording on Monday on the 16th. And I am going to call in right after the women's hockey game.

[Julie Foudy]

Yes.

[Abby Wambach]

So I'm very excited.

[Julie Foudy]

And Kinger both going. And Julie, no mates over here. Is going to be in America cheering like a maniac on tv. Julie, no Olympics over here.

[Abby Wambach]

I know. We're gonna be shooting. I'm gonna be recording. It'll be like 9pm or 10pm My time and it'll be like, I don't know, 11.

[Julie Foudy]

Oh, yeah. Fun. You're gonna be all hyped.

[Abby Wambach]

I'm so excited.

[Julie Foudy]

Are you sure you want to record? You might want to go out and hang with the. The US Team.

[Abby Wambach]

No, you can grab them after. Glenn and I don't party. We just go back to the hotel room and sleep. That's what happens.

[Julie Foudy]

Okay. And some things to keep your eye on this weekend. Chloe Kim, bless her, after her shoulder injury, picked up right where she left off, topping the field in the half pipe qualifying, which is great news. Building toward what could be a historic Olympic gold. 3 Pete let's go.

[Abby Wambach]

Yes.

[Julie Foudy]

And then Michaela Shiffrin begins her hunt for individual gold on Sunday at 4:30am Pacific Standard Time. Get on up, party people. And Aaron Jackson looks to defend her gold medal in the 500 Sunday at 8:03 PST. I don't know why 03, but 8:03, you've got to be detailed. And the unrivaled 1v1 tournament final, Saturday, 3pm Pacific on TNT. And True TV. Paige Beckers versus Aaliyah Edwards. A $200,000 prize hanging in the balance. Aaliyah Edwards returns to avenge possibly last year's finals defeat to Nafisa Collier. Paige Beckers enters as the betting favorite, averaging 25 points per game. That is your party starter. And thanks to Ally for sponsoring this segment. As we know, Ally is more than a bank. And their do it right approach helps customers unlock their economic potential and guides their efforts as a leading sponsor in women's sports. And just like us, Ally believes that when women in sports win, we all have a reason to party. Ally bank, member, fdic.

[Abby Wambach]

All right, you guys stick around. Alana Meyers Taylor is coming right up. Okay, so, Jules Peloton is shaping the future of fitness with the brand new peloton cross training tread plus power. It's the most incredible thing. It's powered by peloton iq.

[Julie Foudy]

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[Abby Wambach]

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[Alana Meyers Taylor]

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[Julie Foudy]

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[Abby Wambach]

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[Julie Foudy]

Yeah, yeah, I love it too. I love it. So let yourself run, lift, sculpt, push, and go.

[Abby Wambach]

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[Julie Foudy]

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[Abby Wambach]

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[Julie Foudy]

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[Abby Wambach]

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[Julie Foudy]

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[Abby Wambach]

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[Julie Foudy]

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[Alana Meyers Taylor]

Everything.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah. And eventually, as we know, that stops feeling brave and scrappy and good and starts feeling exhausting. QuickBooks gives you an actual team, AI agents and trusted experts. So doing it yourself no longer means doing it alone. Your numbers, your data, your insights, everything is finally in one place and you can actually see what's going on and move forward with confidence. Outdo it with Intuit QuickBooks. Learn more about Intuit [e-mail]. Okay, party people. Now to the partiest part of our party. Alana Meyers Taylor has competed in four. Yes, four winter Olympic games already. She's already won five Olympic medals in bobsled, three silvers, two bronze, and she is the most decorated black athlete athlete in winter Olympic history. I'm going to say it again. The most decorated black athlete in winter Olympic history. And somehow she's still chasing the one thing missing from her unbelievable resume. Olympic gold. She's medaled in every single Olympic event she has ever entered. And in this next Olympics, she could become the most decorated U. S. Woman in winter Olympic history. And while she's doing all that, oh, she's raising two young sons who are five and three years old with disabilities, learning ASL as a family, traveling the world with what she calls the Myers Taylor Traveling Circus, and showing all of us what it looks like to lead with your heart and fight like hell for your dreams. But beyond the accolades and the records, what we think truly makes her extraordinary is the way she carries the weight of representation, motherhood, and being a barrier breaker. Party people, buckle up and get your bobsledding helmets on. Alana Myers Taylor, welcome to the party.

[Abby Wambach]

Welcome.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

Well, thanks for having me at the party. I appreciate it. I appreciate. And also, I had no idea that stat about, you know, if I win more medals, I could become the most decorated woman ever. So I don't know if that adds a little pressure or.

[Julie Foudy]

You didn't know that?

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

No, I had no idea. But, you know, as, as athletes, you never really know about those stats. Those are all things people, people tell you like, and it's funny when they come up with these ESPN stats or whatever, it's like you're the only person to win a race on a Tuesday in the 6am hour with your left shoe untied. You're like, okay, cool.

[Abby Wambach]

I guess.

[Julie Foudy]

That'S kind of an important one though. You could become the most decorated US Woman in Winter Olympic history. Yo, we are here for you for all your stat needs. If you need us.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah, you could tie with Bonnie Blair.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

Oh, wow. Yeah, that's a pretty big stat. Especially because with bobsled for so long, you only had one opportunity anyway, so it would have taken me much longer. Now with the two opportunities and two races, like it's a complete game changer. So we have the monobob and we have the two women now where as most of my career, we only had two women. So we only had one medal opportunity.

[Julie Foudy]

Right?

[Abby Wambach]

Wait, you have a mono bob? Can you explain that to me? What the hell is that?

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

Yeah, manobob, which is actually the sled that's on my shirt. So monobob is a new discipline. It got added in the 2022 Beijing Olympics. And so it's just one person that sled, one person pushing and driving the same, almost exact same weight as a two man sled, but it was traditionally used as a development sled. So it was traditionally used for new drivers to learn how to drive a bobsled, but now it's its own event. And so it's funny is some of the people in the field actually have more experience than me in Monobot because when I learned to drive almost 20 years ago, like, there was actually you learned in a two person. So you learned with somebody behind you. So you're learning with crashing and all this kind of stuff, and somebody's behind you versus now they learn just with one person in sled. So they actually have more experience in it, the discipline than I do. Which is kind of funny given how long I've been driving bobsleds.

[Julie Foudy]

Oh, my gosh.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

Yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

That is crazy. Well, just going down this road a little more, if you medal right then you would tie Body Blair for the most Winter Olympic medals by a US Woman with two medals. So as your point with monobob, you would hold the standalone record with seven medals.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

That's incredible. That was definitely something I didn't know. But it's cool to even like. Like, I never, when I started bobsled and when I started his Olympic journey and whatever, I never, like, ever thought I'd be where I am right now. Like, after I won my first medal in 2010, like, I thought I'd done everything there was to do in life. Like, I was like, I got a bronze medal. Nobody could tell me anything. I could go home and I don't have to accomplish anything else in my life again. Of course we know, especially as female athletes, that's not true. Like, but at the time, I thought I was set forever. So it's kind of funny now to be in here in this position, to even have the opportunity to go for it, to go to try and win two more medals is pretty cool.

[Julie Foudy]

You know, it's. You know what I love most about that abs, is that you, like, it doesn't matter to you. Like, you're doing it. Like, that's it. That's not the driving force which is so healthy. Yeah, I love that. You don't even know. You're like, great. Alana, can you share how a crushed softball dream led? I want you to rewind led to a 20 year bobsled career.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

Oh, gosh.

[Julie Foudy]

Well.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

The good news is I grew up outside of Atlanta, so I watched the 96 games. And of course, the 96 games was the game for female athletes. And so to see softball and soccer and basketball and everybody winning gold medals left and right, like, it was just incredible. And so I knew I wanted to be an Olympian then and there. And it's funny, I remember watching the 1999 World Cup. I remember exactly where I was, exactly the restaurant, because I was watching the entire game with my softball team in between our tournament and everything like that. And so I'm watching the 99 World cup and having those visions of, hey, I'm gonna make a as an Olympic softballer. But of course that didn't happen. So I played at George Washington University. I played professionally and I had an Olympic tryout. And I thought, you know, great, I'm going to get this Olympic tryout, I'm going to nail it. I'm going to go in there and do it. And I had the worst tryout in the history of tryouts. And when I say this, like, I know softball subjective, I know teams are subjectively picked, but anybody was there or anybody who isn't there, I can tell you it was objectively the worst tryout in the history of tryouts. So I can relate. There's no chance I was making that team. And then softball was taken out of the games. And so at that point, like, I was like, well, I still want to be an Olympian. What else can I do? I don't know what that looks like, but my parents had actually seen bobsled on TV and were like, hey, why don't you try this? I was like, sure, why not? I googled it, emailed a coach and got invited to try out. And the rest is history. And that was in 2007. So I've been in this game a long time, but it all started in a failed softball career.

[Abby Wambach]

What are all the disciplines for bobsled? Can you explain that to me?

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

Yep. So there's monobob, there's two women, two person, and then there's four man. And so for the longest time, women had actually fought, and myself included, to drive four man sleds and to have our own discipline for four women. Because men, since bobsled was in the Olympics, like, well, long story short, women's bobsled only got added to the Olympics in 2002. We won the first gold medal in the US of course, but women's bobsled only got added in 2002 and they only added one discipline. And so men's bobsled has been is one of the oldest Olympic sports. It's been in the Olympics forever. But they've always had two opportunities medal. And so as women, we always wanted more opportunities medal. We wanted to do the four man discipline. And so me and another group of girls, we fought to be able to have an opportunity to do four man. We raced against men, we competed against men and were able and actually quite a few of us were successful. We were beating men and everything like that. And then finally they saw the push that we were making to have two Metal opportunities. And instead of saying, hey, you guys can do four man or do four women? They said, hey, you can do monobob. So it was quite a, like, switch there. And so they gave us this monobob slide. So now women have two opportunities. Men have two opportunities, but the men have the four man and two person at the games and the women have monobob and two man.

[Abby Wambach]

This is going to be a little bit sidetracky, but I was in Norway when I was a 20 year old and this is where the Lillehammer Winter Olympics were. And so they had the bobsled course created. And this is summertime and I got a chance to go into a bobsled, but they had like rubber wheels on it and they drive the thing down. And it was like the most scary thing that's ever happened because I'm just strapped in there. Somebody, somebody is driving this thing and you're experiencing these G forces going around the turns. Can you talk about, like, what that is? Like, like, are you just like used to it now or. Or going into the turns and experiencing those GS? Is that something that like, still kind of literally weighs on you?

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

Oh, literally. My back is trashed. Like, it's completely like, I don't know what I'm going to do post bobsled between pregnancies and bobsledding for close to 20 years. Like, my back is just done because that G forces. And you know, at some tracks they say we go four to five to even up to eight GS. And that pressure on our literal backs and our spines going down the tracks. And that's the thing too is like, you felt that in the summer, like, we don't do the summer bobsleds part of it. The reason is because we need the break. So from October to April or October to March, in the winter side, we're in sleds. We're competing, we're training, we're doing all that. And then the opposite end, April to October, we're not in sleds at all. But we also need time for our spines to unload and things like that, because all the pressure that gets on it. So we got pressure for competition, but also pressure that's weighing down on us. So it's a lot physically on your body. Yeah. But the biggest thing is, like, as a brakeman, I. I was a brakeman for as long as I needed to be. And that was about it. I'm not an adrenaline junkie. I don't like roller coasters. I actually get motion sick and quite A few people in our sport do, but I'm in the front of the sled, so it's like driving a car. You know, motion sickness isn't as bad when you're driving. And the same thing in a bobsled. Like, I have every curve in my. Memorized in my head, and so I know what all the curves are like. Like, I'm focused on a task, so I'm not motion sick or anything like that. So those same kind of feelings like you feel as a passenger in the back of a bobsled, I don't feel that because I'm in control. And literally, like, I think that's, like, why I love bobsled so much is because it gives me the ability and power to control something that feels so uncontrollable.

[Julie Foudy]

I did the same thing in Park City, but on the. On the snow or on the ice. Did. Did. Went down in a bobsled. And when you're watching on tv, you're like, oh, that looks so smooth.

[Abby Wambach]

Yeah.

[Julie Foudy]

Omg. I. Same thing, abs. I was like. I was, like, wanting to vomit in the sled. And you've got this helmet on, and you're rattling against both sides, like, my head.

[Abby Wambach]

And then. And then the G's.

[Julie Foudy]

And then I. And I went down with Shana Roebuck, a former bobsledder. She was driving, and I was behind her, and she's like, do you want to go again? And I was like, hell, no.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

I.

[Abby Wambach]

Want to do that. I want to go down on the ice. Like, I do feel like. Like I'm a little bit of an adrenaline junkie, for sure. But what I want to know, too, like, because you're. You're a driver, it's not. It's connected to skates, essentially. Like, long skates, right? Like, that would be on, like, a. That you would wear. Go to go ice skating. Like, that's what's underneath the bobsleds. Like, what do you call that?

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

We call them runners. And technically, they're rounded, so they're not like this. Like a skate or ice skate or hockey skate is a sharp edge. Ours is actually rounded edge. So it's actually like, controlled gliding, so to speak. And so we are actually driving these things. So there's a pulley system. And basically, like, in our hands, you have what are called D rings. They're literally in the shape of the Ds. If you want to go left, you pull your left D ring towards you. You want to go right, you pull your right D ring towards you. And that moves our Runners left and right. So it's just a pulley system. But you got to imagine it's like you're doing this on ice. So sometimes the pools are as simple as opening and closing your hands. And, like, one of the worst concussions I've had was a simple matter of this. Like, all I had to do was this, and I could have avoided a concussion completely. Like, it's insane. Like, our sport is insane. But like I said, I love it. But, Julie, when you went down, too, you went down with Shauna, who was also one of my drivers, who was one of the best drivers in the world, one of the best drivers the US has ever had. Like, you can't even imagine what it would have felt like if you went down with, like, an okay driver. Like, because it feels that crazy with a really good driver, with drivers with less experience, it is, like, intolerable.

[Julie Foudy]

Oh, really? Because it was. Well, thank you, Shauna, for that. But it was crazy. I was. I still, to this day am. I go, oh, my gosh. That was an experience I did not anticipate because it does. When you're watching on tv, it looks so graceful, elegant, smooth and elegant. And you're just kind of like, you know, going down like you would on a ski slope. Slowly dirty. But I got it. I was like. And I just remember her like, yeah, let's go again. I was like, oh, hell no, I'm not going again. So I imagine you must be like, give me April through October or whatever you said your break was. I need that break for my back, for my body. Okay. Also, I am fascinated that I saw your IG post, Alana, and because you said, on October 18, the boys and I will leave home, and if all goes well, we won't be back until after the Olympics in February. So we're talking with a five year old and a three year old.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

Like I said, I think I'm a glutton for punishment a little bit here. So it is chaos every single day. But I wouldn't have it other way because, like, I reached this point in my sporting career where I was like, okay, I'd won medals and I. I still wanted to win more. Of course I was in a position to win more, but it didn't really have meaning behind it. And having kids kind of gave me meaning to my sport. Like, at the end of the day, especially being a mom with kids with disabilities, like, I want to show them that you can go out there and fight for your dreams and you can go out there and overcome obstacles. And do all of this, no matter what the world says to you, because at the ages of three and five, they've already had plenty of people in their lives tell them no, they can't do something, they won't do something. And so, you know, as a 41 year old mom of two, there's plenty of people telling me this isn't going to happen and that can't happen. So it's my job as a mom to model that for them. And so that's why it's important to have them on the road. It's important to figure out how to make it work. And it looks chaotic every single day. And we travel with a nanny and she's been amazing and helps us every step of the way, but there's a lot of chaos. But at the end of the day, like, I have to model that for them. So then when that person comes up to them and tells them no, that they don't listen at all. And literally they can't listen because they're deaf. So they literally just don't take any heart in it.

[Julie Foudy]

Tell us more about that as well.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

Yeah. So them being deaf is like. We had no history of deafness in our family. I mean, I think everybody has some kind of history of hearing loss, but. But it's usually as your parents age, like, everybody, if you live long enough, you'll get some kind of disability, which is pretty cool because it's the only minority group that everybody can join. Everybody has potential to join. So if you're blessed enough to live long enough, more than likely you'll start to lose your hearing or you'll start to lose your vision or something like that. But in general, we had no history of deafness, we had no history of hearing loss. So to have our first son not only be born with down syndrome, but be born with hearing loss and profound deafness, like it was a shock to us. But at the same time, we've been open. We've been met with arms wide open by the deaf community, by the down syndrome community. And they've really walked us through this entire journey. So as a family, we do. Our primary language is American Sign Language. That's my shirt, Bob said in sign language. And so it's been a learning process the entire way, just trying to figure this out and trying to figure out what it looks like. And the biggest thing is just having confidence in yourself as a parent is like, you're gonna figure your kids out regardless.

[Abby Wambach]

Do you have to support yourself through this entire process of being a Bobsledder like, how do you. How do you survive? Like, I just. Yeah, I don't. I don't understand how that works for bobsledders.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

I don't understand how it works either because it's crazy expensive. And so, long story short, no, they don't provide any additional funding for nanny services or anything like that. And traditionally, in our sports and in winter sports, a lot of times when you end up having a child, most women end up retiring. But now it's getting more and more common for women to have their children and continue traveling, but most of the time they do it with their spouse. So I'm part of a new wave who's actually doing it with the nanny services. And so far, the infrastructure isn't quite in place for that yet. For me, I've relied heavily on sponsors, and with it being a Olympic year, I've been able to get some really good sponsors. But I think one. One reporter had asked me, like, after almost 20 years of bobsledding, am I going to walk away with a paycheck? And I said, if I didn't have kids, yeah, I'd probably walk away with the paycheck, but also, I would have walked away a long time ago. So. But having kids and, you know, four months on the road in European hotels and in little ski towns, like, it's not cheap. And then hiring a nanny and the salary and stuff like that. So I won't walk away with a check from bobsled. I'll walk away with some debt. But at the end of the day, I can't pass up this experience. I'm going to do whatever it takes to make sure my kids have this experience, because it's also been an experience not only for them to be able to learn how to interact in a hearing world and how to interact people without disabilities, but also it's been really good for the other athletes, too, because a lot of the other athletes, the first deaf people they've met or the first person with down syndrome they've met, have actually been my sons, which is pretty incredible because I've had athletes come up to me and tell me, you know, like, when they're thinking about parenting and all that kind of stuff, like down syndrome isn't as scary anymore. Like, they're not afraid of what could happen in pregnancy and all the many, many things that can happen in pregnancy, they're not as afraid anymore. Which has been pretty cool to have that feedback.

[Julie Foudy]

Alana, you are amazing.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

Wow.

[Julie Foudy]

I mean, just. Just being a mom is on its own, is Hard, Yes. Like, to do it. And it's. And the other thing is, I always think, you know, when people look at Olympians, they, they see the shiny object, they see the end product, they see the glamour and the glitz and they don't realize sometimes the grind, the commitment, the love of the sport and the family and all those things that go into it. And you are this, like, living, breathing example of all of that. Oh, that's amazing to me.

[Abby Wambach]

It is amazing. And I feel like it's not fair that you're going to be walking away potentially with any kind of debt as an Olympian like that. Like, that's making me, that's making me very upset right now. Like, is there anything that our listeners can do to support you specifically in this process? Because I just, I hate the fact that there are so many sports, Olympic sports women who are spending their own money in order to do their job.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

I think the biggest thing has been outside athletes, like, creating the infrastructure and creating the tools that we need to be able to get to where we want to go. Like, for instance, Alicia Montano created for all mothers and that provides child care grants to us. And that's provided child grant grants to, I think, all the bobsled and skeleton, which is face first down the ice. Skeleton is our sister sport. They travel with us and everything like that. So they've created grants to help us offset costs with childcare and things like that. And Allison Felix has done amazing things within the ioc, within the US OPC to try and help us with that. But also, like, it's. We're continuing to advocate within the groups that we're in. Bobsled itself is one of the more expensive sports. So to be honest, that's, that's part of it. It's like our equipment is crazy expensive. And, you know, so like, I just dropped six grand on a set of runners, you know, and you have to. And I don't even know if those runners will be the runners I need for the Olympic Games. And so Ideally I'd have three or four sets of that. And so you're talking 24 grand right there just in equipment. And that's maybe I'll use at the Olympic Games. So when you add in childcare expenses, when you add in all that kind of stuff, it just adds up. And so that ends up making our sports really expensive. And so the biggest thing, it's like, for me, where I'm at in this sport is like, even just starting at the position where it's acceptable to have kids on Tour. And so now we've crossed that barrier because for a long time it hasn't been sex, but to have kids on tour. And so now on tour, there's even a father traveling around with his kids, which is really cool because you would have never seen that. Like, the long belief in our sport is if you're a dad, you leave your kids at home, you don't see them for six months and all this kind of stuff like that. So now to have a father in addition to my husband when he was. When he was bobsledder, of course we both traveled. We all traveled with our son and everything like that. But now to have. Even fathers feel like it's okay to travel with their kids on tour, like, we've come a long way. And so that was the first barrier. The next barrier is, like you said, getting that financial support and continuing to push and get those kind of things. And I think as more and more athletes do it, we'll be able to get that kind of support, but we're just not there yet. But so far it's been incredible. Athletes outside of the usopc, outside of those formal organizations that have created their own organization, organizations to support other women.

[Julie Foudy]

Yeah, you're like the Joy Fawcett and Bob sledding. Joy Fawcett was. That was our. Our trailblazer in soccer with. With motherhood. When you're going through all this with. With Nico and Noah and you're watching them, what are you most hopeful that they'll absorb from your journey?

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

I think the thing I'm most hopeful about is that I want them to see that I face the challenges head on. It's like we went after them like, we didn't shy away from the challenges that we face because I can't even imagine the things they're going to have to overcome. I'm a hearing person. I'm not disabled. I have no concept of what their lives are going to look like other than being an observer of what they've already been through. So for me, it really is like, I hope that they are able to face challenges head on. And that's what I want them to be able to. I want them to be able to, like in a sports metaphor, like in the bobsled, I think about attacking the track. Like, I want them to attack the track of their lives and go after the challenges and go after the things they want. Now, for my youngest, that's not going to be a problem at all because he's pretty headstrong. He's pretty much like me, but I need to instill that in them because, like I said, the world's not going to do it for me. The world not going to make sure that they're taken care of. And. And they need to be able to take care of themselves at the end of the day, disabled or not.

[Julie Foudy]

And I know it's not easy, too. So, like, this whole journey for you, I just. I'm thrilled that you're on it with them, and I know it's not easy, but, gosh, we are going to be cheering as hard as we can.

[Abby Wambach]

We will be cheering you on so loudly. Bring it home. All we want is two more medals.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

I appreciate it. Thank you guys for taking the time, and I love the show. So thanks so much.

[Julie Foudy]

Just a quick pose on three. We do this at the end of the thing. So we're going to do a quick party pose. Ready? Three, two, one. Oh, my goodness.

[Alana Meyers Taylor]

Gosh.

[Abby Wambach]

I have so much to say about this woman. First of all, like, to be able to want something so bad that you just have to switch sports. Like, there's no way, like, I'm an athlete, but there's no way I would have been able to, like, at 20, whatever, two, three, be like, let me just switch sports here and figure out, although I will say bobsledding is fun. I want to do it. How can we get to Cortina and ride on the course?

[Julie Foudy]

Well, I'm telling you, you do not.

[Abby Wambach]

Want to do it. It's so hard.

[Julie Foudy]

It's hard. It's like the G's. You got to go do it in Park City.

[Abby Wambach]

I mean, I was in an F.

[Julie Foudy]

This is what your head will do.

[Abby Wambach]

The whole. I was in an F15 doing GS. Like, I. I like that stuff.

[Julie Foudy]

I threw up.

[Abby Wambach]

You did?

[Julie Foudy]

Blue Angels threw up.

[Abby Wambach]

Oh, you did? Yeah. No, not me. I. I could hold it down. Oh, God, I did my hick breathing.

[Julie Foudy]

There's a lot. And. And like, that. That her parents are like, what? We just googled bobsledding and was like, yeah, Google that. Gts it. Google bobsledding. And there you go. Try that. Okay, Alana. Mad respect. All right, party people, don't forget to subscribe to the welcome to the party YouTube channel so you can find us and watch us and see all the nonsense, not just hear all the nonsense. Click that little bell icon so you can get updates when new episodes go live.

[Abby Wambach]

Yes. And if you just take a second to. Or maybe a minute, we would appreciate it to rate, leave a comment and subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And be sure to follow us on Tick Tock and Instagram at welcome to the Party show where Julie, Billy and I will bring the party straight to your feed. Another big shout out to Kate Diaz for our theme music. We love Kate. Jules, bring it in. We got a. Usa usa. Usa. Ah, this out.

[Julie Foudy]

Okay, you do take us. Oh, me. Okay. On three. One, two, three.

[Abby Wambach]

Welcome to the Party is an independent production brought to you by Treat Media. Treat Media makes art for humans who want to stay human. Initial Digital is our production partner, and you can also watch our full conversations on the welcome to the party YouTube channel and follow us at welcome to the Party show on Instagram and TikTok. Thanks for listening.