Women’s Bobsled Team Going for the Gold

The United States women’s bobsled team is set.  The three push athletes are all African American women.

Lolo Jones is the one earning all the headlines.  Jones made a name for herself in the Summer Olympics as a track star. She’s bulked up and is excelling at pushing the bobsled for the winter games. It’s safe to say Jones is one of the more popular U.S. Olympic athletes. Her outgoing personality and ravishing looks pushed her into the mainstream even though she’s never been able to bring home a medal. Only eight Americans have ever competed in both the summer and winter Olympics, so Jones certainly joins rare company. It’s a new kind of track, but she’s once again looking for hardware at the highest level in Sochi.

Another track star prepares to make her Winter Olympic debut as a bobsled pusher. Lauryn Williams is more successful on the track than Jones, though she remains less popular. Williams has a silver and gold medal under her belt. She took silver in the 100-meter dash in Athens in 2004. Years later, Williams won gold in 2012 as a relay team member in London. Sochi will mark Olympic Games number four for Lauryn Williams. It’s the first time she’s qualified for the winter games. Ten years have gone by for Williams since her first summer silver in Athens. It’s a new challenge, but one of the world’s greatest athletes clearly knows what it takes to get to the top of the podium. This one may be snow covered, but that won’t stop her from aiming for it.

Strangely enough, University of Illinois alumna Aja Evans is in the minority of this group when it comes to Summer Olympic experience.  She’s the only one of the three push athletes this year who didn’t forge a name for herself on the Olympic track. She does come from a track background. Evans threw shot put and sprinted for the Illini during her years in Champaign.

Evans has a family history of talented athletes. Her brother, Fred, plays professional football for the Minnesota Vikings. Her uncle, Gary Matthews was the Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year in 1973 at the start of his 16-year baseball career. His son, Gary Matthews Jr., also played professional baseball for 12 seasons. As the games draw near, it’s now Evans turn to take her shot at the top of her respective sport. In a family full of athletic success, the spotlight turns to Evans as she chases gold in Sochi.

Maybe we’re seeing a new trend in the look of United States bobsledding. Clearly success on the track translates to a bobsled. Three women set the tone for our country. For all of them, it’s not the sport they set out to conquer, but right now it’s the battle at hand. The most important thing they all have in common: the will to win.