On November 3rd 2001, the ski patrol at Copper Mountain Resort in Colorado kicked Picabo Street off the slopes because the two-time Olympic medalist was skiing too fast on a blue diamond run (intermediate level.) The patrol felt Picabo should've slowed down because it was a small area and there were a lot of other skiers in the area.
Picabo has always gone as fast as she can and she's always ignored rules. She picked up these traits from her parents - who tended to do things their own way as well. Picabo's 'rents decided to let Picabo choose her own name when she was old enough so for the first two years of her life, she was called "Little Girl." When Picabo was two, her mother took her to get a US passport for a trip to Mexico. When Dee tried to write down "Little Girl" as daughter's first name, the guy at the passport office gave her a funny look and told her she had two weeks to give her daughter a "real name." So, Stubby and Dee named their daughter Picabo (after a small village in Idaho.) When she was four, Picabo's parents said she could change her name but she decided to keep it.
Picabo was raised on a small farm in the town of Triumph, Idaho and she didn't have a television in her house until she was 13 (how did she ever survive?!) Picabo spent a lot of time working on the farm, playing football with the boys in town and skiing on the mountains near Triumph. When she was 16, Picabo won the National Junior Alpine Ski Championship and soon had her sights set on an Olympic medal. That dream came true in 1994 when Picabo won the silver medal in the downhill at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. This made Picabo an international star.
Picabo reached the medal podium again at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan. She won the gold medal in the Super G, just months after ripping her knee to shreds in a ski accident in Colorado. If Picabo wins another medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, she'll become the first American skier to win three Olympic medals in alpine skiing. You can be sure that she won't be told to slow down by the ski patrol in Salt Lake City.
For more on the 2002 Winter Olympics, head to www.saltlake2002.com.
