COVID-19 knocks Meyers Taylor out of Olympic flagbearer duty

Bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor was chosen Wednesday to be a flagbearer for the U.S. Olympic team but will not be able to attend the Winter Games opening ceremony because she's in isolation after a positive COVID-19 test.

On Tuesday, Meyers Taylor said on social media that she arrived in Beijing on January 27 and tested positive two days later.

Bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor was chosen Wednesday to be a flagbearer for the U.S. Olympic team but will not be able to attend the Winter Games opening ceremony because she's in isolation after a positive COVID-19 test.

Speed skater Brittany Bowe will take Meyers Taylor's place in Friday's ceremony, and will be joined by curler John Shuster.

“Being voted by my peers as the flag bearer is the biggest honor of my career,” Meyers Taylor said. “While I cannot carry the flag and walk in with the rest of Team USA, Brittany is very deserving of the opportunity to lead our delegation on my behalf."

On Tuesday, Meyers Taylor said on social media that she arrived in Beijing on January 27 and tested positive two days later. She said she was asymptomatic and in isolation. Bobsled doesn't begin until February 13, and USA Bobsled and Skeleton is hopeful that Meyers Taylor will be able to compete.

She has two silver medals and one bronze, and is the the only woman to win three Olympic bobsled medals for the U.S.

The three-day torch relay for the Beijing Olympics, shortened considerably because of concerns about the coronavirus, started Wednesday with an 80-year-old former speedskater carrying the flame.