When the Winter Olympics begin next month, you might want to watch the bobsledding, particularly the two-woman team competition. It will include Elana Meyers, who grew up in Douglasville and was a bronze medalist in the 2010 games in Vancouver, Canada.
Her dream of being an Olympian was born when the Olympics came to Atlanta in 1996. And she’s from an athletic family, including her father, who played for the Falcons and now runs PNC Bank’s Georgia operations.
Meyers, featured in an interview in last Sunday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution, grew up as a softball player and wanted to compete in that Olympic sport. When softball was eliminated from the games, she switched her attention to bobsledding and now is among a small number of winter Olympians from metro Atlanta.
Eddie Meyers, her father and PNC regional president, is one proud guy. He’s active in the community and the kind of guy you’ll see around town a lot. He’s never brought up his daughter to me, but once I asked, well, it’s not hard to tell how delighted he is. And he’s got the kind of stories about her that only a father can tell. Here’s one of them:
At first, he said, Elana was a bit nervous about bobsledding. After all, those things fly down an icy track at 80 miles an hour. Crashes and injuries are common.
“When you see it, it looks very scary,” Eddie said.
But the encouraging father reminded Elana of how they both loved riding roller coasters when she was growing up.
“It can’t be any worse than the roller coasters you’ve been on,” he said. “There are risks in every sport.”
And so now, she’ll be competing for another medal in Sochi, Russia next month.
But it’s not like Eddie is completely convinced of that roller coaster comparison.
“I’m admitting I haven’t gotten on a bobsled,” said the U.S. Naval Academy graduate and running back. “Some time I will.”
Meyers began his career in banking 25 years ago and has spent most of that time in Atlanta. He and his wife have three daughters, one older and one younger than Elana.
So a sports-loving Navy guy who was a football player ends up with three daughters. Was that the plan, or was he hoping to have a football player to follow in his footsteps?
“It’s great. I got the best of both worlds: three daughters who are all athletes,” he said. “I’m proud of all my daughters.”
Meyers and his wife will be traveling to Sochi, but “compared to Vancouver, it’s totally different,” he said.
They’ve been working for months on their plans, including getting visas and a place to stay. Also, he’s had to get tickets to see his daughter.
The Meyers won’t be attending much else besides bobsledding. Winter Olympic venues tend to be spread over wide distances, making it hard to come up with tickets and plans to see events beyond their daughter’s sport.
He expects there will be some restrictions on traveling in Russia, given concerns about terrorism. For example, last week, Russian and Olympic officials were forced to address an email sent to Olympic committees of several countries that threatened visitors to the games. They said the threat wasn’t credible. And Russia continues to increase security and assure the world that the competitors and fans will be safe.
Meyers is, of course, concerned about his daughter’s safety, and that of he and his wife. He asked me to be vague in this column about when and how he would travel to Sochi, and he said he’s monitoring information from the U.S. State Department.
But they have little choice but to proceed. “You can’t make the decision at the last minute.”
Meyers believes the athletes in Sochi will be safe, that Olympic organizers have learned how to protect them over the years. His concerns are around the fans, particularly as they venture to restaurants and shopping areas, which are harder to secure.
He’s also thinking about his daughter’s success four years ago when he attended the Vancouver games, and he hopes she has more.
“That was a dream come true,” he said. “Because it was a dream come true for Elana.”
His daughter, as a previous medalist, now faces the pressure of higher expectations. That’s something she’s talked about with her father.
And what’s Dad’s advice?
“Enjoy the experience,” he said.
That’s what he plans to do, too.
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