The “Black Mount Rushmore” for Team USA at the Winter Olympic Games grew substantially in 2026, and the horizons for every black girl/woman in America just expanded exponentially, given by the indubitably colorful performances by seven very gifted African-American female athletes.
Kaysha Love (28), from West Jordan, Utah originally an indoor/outdoor track star competed in the women’s bobsledding event. Love’s love and passion for bobsledding began when she was 23 years old and has been a boss lady ever since she started. Love won the gold in and became the first black woman to win the world title in 2025 during the World Championship in Lake Placid.
Azaria Hill (27), from Santa Clarita, California like Love, was also a sprinter on the track team and attended UNLV where they both were track mates and ran alongside each other during their time in college. Hill competed in the 2023-24 Bobsleigh World Cup, 2024 IBSF World Championship, 2025-26 Bobsleigh World Cup, and now the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Games. Hill is officially the 4th Olympian in her family.
Mystique Ro (31), born and raised in Nokesville, Virginia. Another track and field stand out, now skeleton bobsledder who previously ended an 8-year drought winning the gold medal in the 2025 IBSF World Championship last year in the skeleton racing event before appearing in the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Games. Ro competed for both the two-women and mixed team events in the 2025 World Championship in Lake Placid, NY, and the 2024 World Championship in Winterburg, Germany.
Jasmine Jones (29), from Greensburg, Pennsylvania, also an “All-American” NCAA Division 1 “Track & Field” sprinter for the 200- and 400-meter events at Eastern Michigan, made Olympic debut in Milano Cortina winning the bronze medal on the two-women bobsledding team. Jones is also enlisted in the US Air Force proudly serving her country and making every American proud.
Elana Meyers Taylor (41), another Oceanside, California native is no stranger to the winter Olympics, as she is the most decorated black athlete in history for the winter Olympic games with an extensive resumé to show for. Four-time World Champion with two gold medals in both the two-women and mixed team events in the Olympics. This year’s Olympic games will be her most memorable one after winning her first gold medal at the age of 41, also becoming the oldest gold medal winner in Olympic history. She now has three silver medals, two bronze medals, and one gold medal in the Olympic Games.
Laila Edwards (22), from Cleveland Heights, Ohio became the first black woman to appear on the Team USA Women’s Hockey Team. Also, the first black women to score a goal, and bring a gold medal home. Edwards is an elite talent attending the University of Wisconsin where she won (2) NCAA D1 National Championships and led the nation last year with 35 goals. She also won (2) world championship medals, (1) gold at the 2025 World Championship, and (1) silver at the 2024 World Championship where she was honorably proclaimed the MVP becoming the youngest player to receive that award at the age of 20.
Erin Jackson (33), from Ocala, Florida, an American speed skating Goddess became the first black woman to win a gold medal in winter olympic history for an individual sport (500m) in the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games. Jackson holds (2) silver medals in the World Single Distances Championships, (2) golds and (1) silver in the Four Continents Championships, and one gold, one silver, and one bronze in the Pan American Games.
Dante Robinson | Senior Sports Analyst for The NSR Network
