{"id":480594,"date":"2026-02-20T21:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T21:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/480594\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T21:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T21:15:08","slug":"laila-edwards-the-first-black-woman-to-win-olympic-gold-with-team-usa-womens-hockey-grew-up-idolizing-alex-ovechkin-and-has-a-gr8-tattoo-on-her-ankle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/480594\/","title":{"rendered":"Laila Edwards, the first Black woman to win Olympic gold with Team USA women\u2019s hockey, grew up idolizing Alex Ovechkin and has a \u2018GR8\u2019 tattoo on her ankle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Laila Edwards is a trailblazer. Not only did the Cleveland Heights, Ohio, native become the first Black woman to make the United States Olympic women\u2019s hockey team, but she also became the first Black American to win Olympic gold in hockey on Thursday, as the USWNT defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old, who plays both forward and defense, had eight points (2g, 6a) in seven games and was named to the Olympic women\u2019s All-Star Team as a defender. Her biggest moment came on the biggest stage of them all, in the gold-medal game, when she connected with Team USA captain Hilary Knight on the game-tying goal with two minutes and four seconds remaining in the third period.<\/p>\n

Not only did Edwards become a bona fide star on the world stage, but she also got to do it in front of her family, too, after two other star athletes from her hometown, Jason and Travis Kelce, raised $10k to cover their travel and lodging via a GoFundMe.<\/p>\n

Laila even has a local connection. While she follows all of Cleveland\u2019s major sports teams, like the Guardians, Cavaliers, and Browns, her favorite hockey team is the Washington Capitals.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike when we [lost] in the playoffs last year, I was in shambles,\u201d Edwards told ESPN\u2019s Ryan S. Clark in a feature story before the Olympics<\/a>. \u201cI was just pissed off for an hour. Maybe I wasn\u2019t in shambles. That\u2019s dramatic. But I was definitely upset. It was so hard for me to watch the rest of the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, Laila calls the Washington Capitals \u201cwe\u201d as if she\u2019s a part of the team. That\u2019s how deep the fandom runs for her.<\/p>\n

In the story<\/a>, Bobby, her older brother, also revealed that Laila and her older sister, Chayla, all played hockey together at the Cleveland Heights Community Center, taping their sticks like Ovechkin and trying to mimic his style of play.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t do that, but Laila was able to do it,\u201d Bobby said. \u201cShe would go through her legs.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Laila\u2019s love is with the Capitals, she would end up wearing the colors of the club\u2019s biggest rival as she got older. After playing for the Cleveland Jr. Lumberjacks and Cleveland Barons \u2014 two youth boys\u2019 teams \u2014 she suited up with the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite Girls hockey program.<\/p>\n

Later in her life, she made her love of the Capitals and Ovechkin permanent with a tattoo on her left ankle. In block lettering, she had \u201cGR8\u201d written, which is one of the \u201c10 or 11\u201d tattoos that she has on her body.<\/p>\n

Laila hasn\u2019t met the NHL\u2019s all-time goals leader yet, but one of her most prized collectibles is an autographed Ovi jersey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what I would say,\u201d Edwards said of a potential link-up. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to be too fangirly and say, \u2018Oh my god, I\u2019m your biggest fan.\u2019 I don\u2019t want to do all that. But I would want him to know how big of an impact that he made on my hockey career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laila certainly, at times, looked like Ovechkin out on the Olympic ice, dekeing around players and throwing huge shots on goal from the left circle. And one day, if they ever meet, she can maybe let him hold her gold medal \u2013 the only major thing that\u2019s eluded him in his highly decorated hockey career.<\/p>\n

S\/T to @s_cowles for the heads up.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Laila Edwards is a trailblazer. Not only did the Cleveland Heights, Ohio, native become the first Black woman…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-480594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}