Erin Jackson of US 1st Black woman to win speedskating gold

[George II]

Source: Associated Press

By PAUL NEWBERRY
4 minutes ago

BEIJING (AP) — Erin Jackson became the first Black woman to win a speedskating medal at the Winter Olympics. A gold one, at that.

Jackson won the 500 meters Sunday with a time of 37.04 seconds, giving the American speedskating program its first medal of the Beijing Games and first individual medal since 2010.

But this one meant much more than national pride.

The 29-year-old Jackson, a former inline skater who switched to the ice shortly before the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, joined fellow American Shani Davis as the only Black athletes to win long-track speedskating medals at the Olympics.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/winter-olympics-sports-united-states-olympic-team-angelina-erin-jackson-81bbfacf0bad970e806818d906d9f552

[iluvtennis]

1. Wow, what a feat!! Congrats Erin.

[calimary]

14. Golden girl!

[BlueIdaho]

17. This is such a great story

Very inspirational!

[FakeNoose]

2. Erin Jackson's win: amazing and wonderful

[Tommymac]

3. Outstanding

[Bayard]

4. Hooray!!

For any U.S. woman to win Olympic gold in speedskating!

[DinahMoeHum]

5. BIG UP to her teammate Brittany Bowe. . .

. . .who initially gave up her spot on the team for the 500-meter event to Jackson after the latter slipped up during Trials and did not make the roster even though she was the hottest skater in the world for that distance. (after roster adaptations, Bowe was back on it).

A truly unselfish act on her part.

And boy, did it pay off.

[efhmc]

7. I was so very impressed with Bowe for givimg up her place to her team mate and so

happy she still got to compete.

[calimary]

6. YAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!!

Last edited Sun Feb 13, 2022, 02:41 PM - Edit history (1)

Triumph!!!!

An achievement of which we can ALL be SO proud!!!!!

[Karadeniz]

8. Yay!!!!!!

[cally]

9. Hooray but will NYT now say Black athletes are over represented in Olympics?

I am so impressed by her as it is a tough sport to break into

[Cha]

10. Cool.. TY!

[flying_wahini]

11. America isn't completely broken. Great story! Wonderful that compassion still exists.

[secondwind]

12. Wow!!!! woot!!

[onecaliberal]

13. That is the best thing in the world today.

[Escurumbele]

15. If I am not mistaken, she also has two college degrees and working on her third, she is AMAZING!

Fantastic, I am sorry I did not watch her win...I was looking forward to that. She is an amazing woman...WOW!

[EndlessWire]

16. And may I say

She's really cute, too. I saw a glam photo of her, and she's a doll.

I didn't see any Olympics this year, although not because it's in China. I would have watched anyway. This is one athlete I have been interested in seeing, because of the Bowe sacrifice, and would have enjoyed seeing the two of them.

I think that this year's Olympics is so messed up. I love the Olympics. Maybe we can get world peace free from dictators, and continue this sporting event.