First Black Female Speed Skater to win a Gold Medal at the Winter Olympics, How did Erin Jackson climb to the top?

First Black Female Speed Skater

Erin Jackson made Olympic history by becoming the first black female speed skater to win a gold medal. Erin Jackson’s story demonstrates to the rest of the world that black people can also stand on a snowfield!

Simultaneously, we hope that more African nations will be able to join the Winter Olympics family!

The Beijing Winter Olympics have gotten a lot of interest from across the world. The Winter Olympics featured athletes from Kenya, Nigeria, Madagascar, Morocco, Eritrea, and other nations.

Because of the natural climate, politics, and economy, only 15 African countries, including numerous tropical ones, have competed in the Winter Olympics thus far.

Due to a lack of state financial assistance, most African athletes must fight for themselves, relying on sponsorship and crowdsourcing to supplement their training.

Despite the fact that African athletes have never won a Winter Olympic medal, I am confident that one person will rise to the occasion and make history.

Erin Jackson Story

Sport
Sport	Speed skating
Event(s)	500 m, 1000 m
Coached by	Renee Hildebrand
Medal record Representing the United States Women’s speed skating Olympic Games 2022 Beijing 500 m Women’s inline speed skating Pan American Games 2015 Toronto 500 m

Erin Jackson is an Olympic speed skater, inline skater, and roller derby player from the United States. She qualified for the 2017 World Games in Wroclaw, Poland, where she participated in inline speed skating on the road and track across a variety of distances. She also qualified for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in the 500 meters long track speed skating event.

She won her first 500 meters Speedskating World Cup races in Poland in November 2021, setting two new track marks, and became the first Black American woman to win in the World Cup.

Jackson won the gold medal in the Women’s 500m speed skating event at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics on February 13th. She is the first Black female speed skater to win a medal at the Olympics.

Erin Jackson was born to Tracy and Rita Jackson in Ocala, Florida. Her brother is her only sibling. Jackson began skating at the age of eight when she attempted figure skating. Shores Christian Academy, Howard Middle School, and Forest High School were all places where Jackson went to school. She moved on to the University of Florida, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering with honors.

• Jackson earned gold in the 500-meter inline skating race at the Junior World Championships in 2008–09,
• Gold in the same event at the 2014 Pan American Championships, and was awarded USOC Female Athlete of the Year for Roller Sports in 2012 and 2013.
• She also plays roller derby with the Jacksonville RollerGirls of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), where she won the MVP award at the 2014 WFTDA Division 1 Playoff in Evansville, Indiana, and advanced to the WFTDA Championships in 2015 and 2016.

Erin Jackson began her move to ice speed skating in 2016. With barely four months of ice speedskating experience, she qualified for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Jackson, who was coached by Renee Hildebrand, qualified for the 500 meters race and placed 24th out of 31 competitors in Pyeongchang.

Jackson won gold in the Women’s 500 meters speed skating event at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China. She competed in the 14th pairing (out of 15), and her timing of 37.04 seconds beat the field by 0.07 seconds.

After sliding at the U.S. Trials in this event, she was on the verge of missing out on qualifying for the Olympics.

Also read,

• How difficult is Nathan Chen’s program? Nathan Chen’s Journey From Pyeongchang to Beijing Olympics

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