Erin Jackson Becomes First Black Woman To Win Gold Medal In Winter Olympic Speedskating

Erin Jackson became the first Black woman to win a gold medal in the 500-meter speedskating event during the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

On Sunday, Fox News reported that Jackson became the first Black woman to win a speedskating medal of any kind.

The 29-year-old had a finish time of 37.04 seconds. Her victory also became the Americans’ first speedskating medal of the Beijing Olympics.

She was joined by Shani Davis as the only Black athlete to win speedskating medals. Davis, who is also American, won gold in the men’s 1,000 meters and silver in the 1,500 meters during the 2006 Olympics in Turin.

Miho Takagi–from Japan’s team–won silver, and Angelina Golikova of the Russian Olympic Committee took home the bronze medal.

Jackson made a comeback during the Olympic trials. She finished third during her qualifying run but won the event at trials. Her teammate Brittany Bowe gave up her spot to Jackson but was still able to compete in the event.

The 29-year-old Jackson shed tears of happiness when she realized her dream of becoming an Olympic champion came true.