Chasing Gold 🥇 : Elana Meyers Taylor is one of USA's all-time great Olympians

Cesar Brioso | Paste BN

She began the Beijing Olympics in isolation and couldn't participate in the opening ceremony as the United States' flag bearer.

But Elana Meyers Taylor capped off her fourth Winter Olympics with her second medal of these Games, winning the bronze in women's two-man bobsled with Sylvia Hoffman. She won silver in the inaugural monobob earlier in the Games.

Oh, and she'll get to carry the flag during the closing ceremony.

Not a bad finish for such a disappointing start to what might be the 37-year-old bobsledder's final Olympics.

In his column, Paste BN Sports' Dan Wolken writes that Meyers Taylor’s legacy as an all-time Winter Games athlete for the U.S. is undoubtedly secure. She has participated in four Olympics, won five medals and was one of the driving forces to get women’s monobob added to the program this year.

Aside from the bobsled bronze, Team USA also added to its haul of medals on Saturday with a pair in men's freeski halfpipe, but the silver-winning U.S. figure staking team won't get their hardware before Sunday's closing ceremony.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport late Saturday night rejected an appeal – filed by the nine skaters who won silver in the team event – which would have forced the IOC to hold a public medal ceremony prior to Sunday night's closing ceremony. They had argued that the IOC's decision not to award medals for the event – which came amid news that Russian team member Kamila Valieva tested positive for a banned substance – runs afoul of both the Olympic charter and the host city contract.

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GOOD VIBES CREW: Americans David Wise and Alex Ferreira won silver and bronze, respectively, in freeski halfpipe. Skiers battled windy and cold conditions in the pipe, but Wise and Ferreira found themselves on the podium after landing difficult tricks, even if the conditions prevented them from doing more.

PHOTO FINISH: Joey Mantia finished in fourth place in the men's speedskating mass start final Saturday by a 0.002-second margin – Mantia finishing in 7:47.206, behind bronze medalist Seung Hoon Lee (7:47.204). After leading the men's pursuit team to bronze on Tuesday, it would have been Mantia's second medal in Beijing. Instead, he left disappointed. In a way, he 'felt like maybe I was cheated a little bit,' saying after the race that Lee pulled ahead at the final (milli)second by slightly pulling Mantia's arm back.

FROM ICE TO COURT: Music group Heavy Young Heathens filed a lawsuit on Thursday against NBC, U.S. Figure Skating and figure skating pair Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier, saying their copyright for the song "House of the Rising Sun" was violated when the pair used it for their short program earlier this week.

STAYING PUT: Mikaela Shiffrin changed her departure after the team event was pushed back to Sunday because of high winds. She was originally supposed to leave early Sunday to return to Europe for the rest of the World Cup season, but U.S. Ski Team spokeswoman Megan Harrod said Saturday that the United States still planned to do the team event and Shiffrin would be part of it.

Here are some other stories you might enjoy:

WHAT'S NEXT? After claiming her third Olympic medal on Friday, Eileen Gu knew she was going to Stanford in the fall. Between now and then, well, that’s a lot less clear.

MORE NEEDED: Raising minimum age is not enough to address issues in Olympic figure skating in the wake of the Kamila Valieva doping scandal, writes Paste BN Sports' Christine Brennan.

HISTORIC STEP: Skating with partner Ashley Cain-Gribble in the short program of the pairs event, Timothy LeDuc became the first openly nonbinary athlete to compete at the Winter Olympics.

Say cheese! Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

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