ZHANGJIAKOU, China – Lindsey Jacobellis is finallygolden, and so is Crew USA.
Jacobellis, probably the most adorned athlete in her recreation, gained gold in ladies’s snowboardcross on the Beijing Olympics. Chloe Trespeuch of France took silver and Canada’s Meryeta Odine got here in 3rd.
Till Wednesday, Jacobellis’ Olympic legacy have been marred via a picture of hubris.
In 2006, a then-20-year-old Jacobellis was once cruising to gold within the snowboardcross when she grabbed her board at the ultimate bounce and fell. It price her gold, and he or she settled for silver. Jacobellis by no means made it again to an Olympic podium, maximum just lately completing fourth in Pyeongchang.
16 years later, on the age of 36, Jacobellis ruled all of her heats in Beijing and now has her gold medal. She is the oldest U.S. girl to win a medal of any colour on the Iciness Olympics, in keeping with Olympic historian Invoice Mallon. The medal could also be Crew USA’s first gold of the Beijing Video games.
“This feels implausible, as a result of this stage that all of the ladies are using at is so much upper than it was once 16 years in the past. I felt like I used to be a winner, simply that I made it into finals, simply because that’s been a problem at all times,” Jacobellis mentioned after the race. “The whole thing more or less simply labored for me.”
Jacobellis is a 10-time Iciness X Video games champion and has 5 particular person global championships. At the Olympic level for most probably the overall time, she has in spite of everything reached the mountaintop — with out an oz of showboating in sight.
“It sort of feels such as you blink your eye and every other 4 years (has) long past via. You’re like, ‘Oh gosh, I’m again right here once more,’” Jacobellis mentioned. “Perhaps I’ll blink once more and (I will be able to) be again on the subsequent Olympics, however I wish to say that I’m actually excited with how issues are taking place at this time so I’m going to take a look at and reside on this second a little bit bit longer.”
On the backside of the mountain, her teammate, Stacy Gaskill, 21, had tears in her eyes. The elusive victory for her hero intended that a lot to her. Gaskill completed 7th.
That is the 7th medal total for the US on the Beijing Olympics, and 2nd via a snowboarder.
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