Williams' Winter Olympic Experience Begins
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Lauryn Williams is ready for her fourth Olympic experience.
The 2014 Winter Olympics will officially commence with today’s opening ceremonies. Williams will join her fellow Americans in the Parade of Nations through Fisht Stadium in Sochi, Russia.
For Williams, the experience in Sochi will be both familiar and unique. A three-time Summer Olympian and two-time medalist in track and field, Williams knows all about what it takes to reach the pinnacle of sport.
But Sochi is nothing like Athens, Beijing or London and bobsled is not a mirror image of track and field. However, the skills Williams developed as a world-class sprinter helped her transition from the track to the ice.
Williams picked up bobsled in July and is still learning about the winter sport. She has had huge success in her short time as a push athlete and is one of three members of the US Olympic Bobsled team with a track and field background, joining fellow push athletes Lolo Jones and Aja Evans. Jones, the former Olympic hurdler, and Williams will be the ninth and 10th American athletes to compete in both the Summer and Winter games.
Williams could be the fifth Olympian to medal in both a Summer and Winter Olympics. If history is a good indicator, Williams will have a good chance to earn that distinction as the US women have won a medal in every Olympic Winter Games since the sport was introduced in 2002.
If Williams wins in Sochi, she’ll be the first woman to take gold in both the Winter and Summer Olympics. Eddie Eagan is the only American athlete to win gold in both summer and winter Olympics, reaching the top of the podium for boxing in 1920 and as a member of the US four-man bobsled team in 1932.
Williams, whose quest for a medal begins Feb. 18 at the Sanki Sliding Center, is the first University of Miami student-athlete to qualify for a Winter Olympics. She is also the second Hurricane to participate in four Olympics, joining diver Jose “Chemi” Gil.
A nine-time All-American at Miami, Williams earned her first bobsled medal, a silver, on Dec. 7 at the World Cup race in Park City, Utah, and claimed her second silver on Dec. 14. The former Hurricanes standout earned a gold medal on Jan. 19 in Austria and learned later that day that she would be representing the United States in Sochi.
The three-time track and field Olympian won a gold medal in the 2012 Olympics as part of the U.S. 4x100m relay team and took home a silver medal in the 100m at the 2004 Olympics. Williams is also a three-time gold medalist at the World Championships and won the NCAA Championship in the 100m in 2004.
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