Olympic speed skater Erin Jackson reflects on her historic gold medal as a Black woman: 'It’s kind of bittersweet'
Erin Jackson is one of four speed skaters from the same town — Ocala, Fla. — who medaled in her sport during the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. But what sets her apart from her fellow teammates and competitors is that she is the first Black woman to receive gold for any individual sport at the winter games.
The 29-year-old came in first place in the women's 500-meter speed skating event in February and was celebrated for the incredible feat. Now, she tells Yahoo Life that the milestone was one that came with complicated feelings.
"It's kind of bittersweet because I’m happy to be the first and I just hope that it doesn't take this long for the second and the third and the fourth," Jackson says.
Recalling her medal ceremony, she shares, "When I'm standing on the podium at the medal ceremony and I put the medal around my neck, by this point I'm already crying. Just walking out there and looking into the crowd, seeing all my teammates thinking about my family, wishing my mom could be around to see this. It was just, yeah, a really emotional moment. I was really happy, really proud."
Jackson explains that she grew up roller skating before getting onto the ice — and although the transition from roller skates to ice skates is somewhat natural for athletes in her field, her experience wasn't so easy.
"The main thing for me was just finding comfort on the ice, ’cause it didn't feel like skating to me," she recalls. "Just in the beginning really trying to break the habits that I had built all my life on roller skates and form new habits that work on ice. I think that's what really drew me to it was just trying to defeat that challenge."
Even as a professional, Jackson says speed skating can be "scary" at times. Ultimately, the thrill of it is part of why she loves it so much and why she had her sight set on the Olympics.
"I definitely imagined making it to the Olympics," she says. "I just wasn't sure how long it would take."
She also couldn't have anticipated the history she would make once she got there. Still, Jackson says that she tries not to put pressure on herself as a Black woman in a sport where few Black athletes exist.
"I'm just out there training and trying to get better every day and then hopefully something I do can help add more diversity to this sport," she says. "I just wanna keep on doing what makes me happy."
—Video produced by Stacy Jackman
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