‘This city shows up’: Cleveland Heights celebrates Laila Edwards’s historic Olympic gold

The 22-year-old became the first Black woman to win an Olympic hockey title on Thursday. Those she grew up alongside couldn't hide their delight

About 75 residents packed the Cleveland Heights Community Center on Thursday afternoon to watch the Winter Olympic women's ice hockey final. They crowded around a big screen with eyes locked on Team USA - and on one of their own, Cleveland Heights native Laila Edwards. For once, the tension in the room wasn't the familiar Cleveland sports dread. It was the kind that comes with watching a hometown kid play for something bigger.

Still, the old reflex surfaced when Team USA fell behind to Canada early, and stayed behind deep into the game. Cleveland knows heartbreak, the kind that defined the city for decades before the NBA's Cavaliers broke through in 2016.