Born: 3 April 1971

Birthplace: Triumph (Idaho) (United-States)

Nationality: United-States

Sport: Skiing

ATTENDANCE AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Lillehammer 1994

Nagano 1998

Salt Lake City 2002

AWARDS

Olympic medals:

Gold: 1

Silver: 1

Other results:

World Championships

Gold: 1 (96)

Silver: 1 (93)

Bronze: 1 (96)

From Triumph to Triumph

Picabo Street was born in the appropriately-named town of Triumph in the U.S. state of Idaho. She finished second in the downhill at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer. As she stood on the podium with the silver medal around her neck, she listened to the German national anthem being played for Katja Seizinger and thought, "Next time I'm back up here, I'm going to be listening to my national anthem played for me". She even took lessons from her mother so that she would not forget the words. Street's chances looked good until she took a bad spill and missed a full year of competition. She began racing again only eight weeks before the 1998 Winter Olympics. Only a week before the Nagano Opening Ceremony, she fell and was knocked unconscious for two minutes. The Olympic super giant slalom was delayed one day because of heavy snow. The course was almost as straight as a downhill, so Street chose downhill skis and was rewarded for her decision. She overcame a mid-race error and finished in a time that was one one-hundredth of a second faster than Michaela Dorfmeister of Austria. At the medal ceremony, Picabo Street got the words right. She participated again in the Salt Lake City Games in 2002, finishing 16th in the downhill event.