Skiing

Lindsey Vonn should have been suiting up in preparation of her first Olympic medal of the 2010 Winter Games today.

Instead, she's holed up in her Whistler lodge baking banana bread and watching the world go by, rehabbing her injured right shin and counting her blessings that Mother Nature is conspiring in her quest for glory.

Officials made the call early today to cancel yet another women's downhill training session as a mix of rain and snow continued to fall overnight on Franz's Olympic run.

Women must complete one full training run in order to hold a race, and the first women's competition has now been pushed back to Wednesday, Feb. 17.

Whether or not Vonn's injury has been blown out of proportion by the media, the extended delay is only helping Vonn.

She will have had two full weeks to recover from the injury that she suffered a week before flying to Vancouver by the time her first event rolls around, and it is also worth noting that the downhill competition will place less stress on her shin than any other race.

She has only taken part in a warmup and course inspection since arriving in Whistler, and there's a very good chance that she will be in great shape to challenge for multiple gold medals next week.

She even opted to miss walking out with Team USA at the opening ceremony on Friday in a bid to speed up her recovery.

Vonn is scheduled to compete in all five events and she is favored by many to win at least two of the events, even with her sore leg. Deep bone bruises, while painful, are not like ligament tears, and Vonn will still be able to race even if her leg is sore.

She took pain killers and rubbed numbing cream on her leg prior to Thursday's warmup when she thought the practice would go ahead, and the worst-case scenario right now is that she will have to do the same if her boot is still causing her discomfort on Wednesday.

The only problem on the horizon is the same thing that has been her biggest advantage: the weather.

Right now, everything is working in Vonn's favor. The rain and snow have delayed, postponed, and canceled training runs and medal events, affording her time to relax and heal.

But should the same poor weather conditions into next week, there could be a situation where events are crammed together back-to-back just to get them in.

Organizers said today they are confident all the events will be completed by the time the closing ceremonies take place, but at what cost to Vonn?

We can assume that she will be close to fully fit for her first race. But then what? While her shin may be fine for one race after a fortnight of rest, how will it hold up under the pressure of three events in three days?

At the very least, she will have to race in medal events every other day between Wednesday and the end of the Olympics if she contests all five disciplines.

That is not taking into account further delays or training runs.

Right now Vonn is content with baking snacks and resting up, taking advantage of the weather and joking about her apparent good fortune.

Let's just hope her expression—and her fortunes—don't change with the wind.

Wet conditions, poor visibility, and mushy snow in Whistler, British Columbia, is playing right into the hands of US skier Lindsey Vonn.

The 25-year-old Vonn injured her lower leg in her first slalom training session last week when she jammed a ski tip causing her shin to impact the top of her ski boot.

After arriving in Vancouver, Vonn revealed that she might have to miss part or all of the Olympic Games as well as a number of training sessions.

She took pain killers and numbing cream on Thursday in anticipation of her first training run at Whistler, but the session was delayed and later postponed because of poor visibility on the slopes.

She was able to take part in the warmup and course inspection, but she never got the opportunity to test her ailing shin. A makeup training session was rescheduled for Friday, but that too was cancelled on account of a lack of visibility and wet conditions.

A third practice run today, Saturday, Feb. 13, was cut in order to prepare for the men's downhill race scheduled for this afternoon, but that was also called off because of constantly worsening weather.

What it all means for Vonn is that tomorrow's super-combined event (downhill and giant slalom) was postponed because the competitors haven't had sufficient time to train on the actual courses. As of Saturday afternoon, no makeup date had been set, although it is unlikely to go ahead until Tuesday at the earliest.

While Vonn was scheduled to contest all five alpine skiing events—and medal in at least three—she was never really favorite to win the super-combined gold that was initially planned to run tomorrow.

The downhill competition on Wednesday and the Super-G next Saturday are Vonn's preferred events, and with the extra rest that she is getting right now because of the delays and cancellations, she could actually be in good shape in her major disciplines at the middle and end of next week.

Will she be 100 percent? Probably not. But as her fiercest rivals know, a semi-healthy Vonn can still compete with the best in the world.

Sports bookmakers William Hill still have Vonn, injured shin and all, as the favorite to win both the downhill (6/4) and super-G (7/4) gold medal, and the odds of her taking a big medal haul will only grow with every day the events get pushed back and rescheduled.

The biggest loser in all of this is Vonn's best friend and closest rival Maria Riesch. With Vonn out of the picture, Riesch would be the heavy favorite to finish first in the downhill and to finish among the top two in the super-G. Vonn's participation also bumps Anja Paerson down one more place on the podium, although she is still expected to medal more than once in Vancouver.

While I think it is premature to call Vonn the favorite before she even tests out her shin, I do think her stock is already on the rise. Three or four days ago, there were doubts whether her Olympics was over even before it began.

Now she is once again in the discussion as the one to watch. Just the fact that she said she could "grin and bear" the pain is a strong sign that she will be ready to go whenever the races get underway.

Every passing day plays right into her hands, and as long as the competition gets delayed and rescheduled, Vonn will be rehabbing her leg and growing in strength and confidence.

No news is good news for the cover girl of U.S. skiing. For now, that's more than she could have wished for when she touched down in Vancouver just days ago.

Lindsey Vonn must be carrying around a four-leaf clover, a horseshoe, and rabbit’s foot in that big winter parka, because the doll-faced skier’s luck just keeps getting better.

On Friday, it was announced that the women’s super-combined Alpine ski race, scheduled for Sunday, was to be delayed and likely won’t occur until at least Tuesday. 

The snow on the slope is far too soft due to warm and rainy conditions in Whistler, B.C., where the event is being held. The course was deemed unsafe, resulting in the cancellation of training runs, and the subsequent delay of the event itself.

Of course, this all bodes well for Vonn, who now has several extra days to allow her severely bruised shin to heal. 

Prior to Friday’s Opening Ceremony, Vonn sat down with NBC analyst Bob Costas to discuss the latest on her injured right shin. In the interview, Vonn revealed that she was able to stand in a ski boot for the first time on Friday, and that the recovery was progressing faster than she expected.

However, Vonn gave no indication that she is convinced that she will be able to compete in the super-combined or any of her other races. 

Vonn did reveal that immediately after suffering the injury that she thought she may have broken her leg. Furthermore, she claimed to “stick her fingers in her ears,” because she “didn’t want to hear it,” and that she initially refused medical treatment.

While these actions may seem foolish, it’s understandable that an athlete may go into denial about an injury after spending years training for the chance at Olympic glory, only to see it potentially snatched away at the last moment.

Vonn plans to continue rehabbing her shin Saturday, and will attempt to participate in a practice run on Sunday.

Lindsey Vonn has emerged as one of the biggest names at the Winter Olympic Games, and the state of her shin has become one the biggest stories at the Games. Let’s hope that this story has a happy ending.

Lindsey Vonn will have at least two more full days to rest her injured right shin, after Friday's training session was postponed because of poor visibility and bad weather.

Vonn, the two-time overall World Champion,will not have to test her leg until Monday because Sunday's opening event, the super-combined, has been rescheduled. She says it will help her focus on her recovery, even if best friend and closest rival Maria Riesch said she didn't think the injury was too bad.

The American, however, a favorite to medal in all five events before last Wednesday's injury threatened to ruin her Olympics, says she does not really care about the rumors from other skiers questioning the seriousness of her injury, and she insists she is 100 percent focused on being ready to compete.

She has even chosen to skip tonight's opening ceremony in BC Place, opting to stay in Whistler and rest up.

Vonn, who has only inspected the course and taken part in pre-training warmups, said today that even though she could have practiced if the weather had allowed, she is grateful for the time to recuperate.

"Obviously, I was looking forward to running the course but for me at the moment I think this is the best possible scenario because it gives me that little bit more time to rest my leg.

"I could have done that training run, obviously with a lot of pain, but it's best for me to have canceled.”

In a press conference earlier today, Vonn added: "I inspected the course today and course workers are doing the best they can to get it up to shape, but it's been rainy and it rained all day yesterday, and it's definitely not in raceable condition.

"I wanted to make sure that I could be able to ski safely down," Vonn said. "If you're skiing defensively, it's always dangerous. I pushed myself hard yesterday, and I felt like I could've done the training run. Obviously with a lot of pain, but I could have done it."

Having seen her on the website, she poses as America’s Top Model instead of America’s star skier. Taking a glance at the Sports Illustrated ’s new swimsuit issue, Lindsey Vonn, the U.S. Olympic skier, isn’t skiing. She’s standing on the side of a mountain, wearing a white bikini and red snow boots.

Of course, our country is more interested in her photos. Wait, whatever happened to her, presumably, attaining Olympic gold medals in a quest at the winter games? She is the famous American icon in which most are anxious to watch her attempt bringing home medals.

But three days ago, Vonn spoke to swarming reporters as if she’s quitting before the Opening Ceremonies brighten the beautiful, clear, and crisped skies of British Columbia. The Winter Games are less than hours away, but after revealing uncertainty whether she is healthy even to ski in the games, it seems her priorities are wrong.

Could it be a felicitous dream, ending tragically for Vonn? If she’s delayed after suffering a deep shin bruise, a 20-year dream is ruined. That is, only if she’s not in good enough health to compete in all five of her events. The gorgeous sweetheart is glanced at as a marketing promoter, not a ski expertise attempting to accumulate gold medals or accolades at the Winter Games.

The precious girl is posing appealingly for the photographers and marketers of Sports Illustrated, losing focus of what’s at stake and any glorious deeds she may sustain. The sexy darling is, perhaps, appearing in photos in a white fur wrapped tight around her chest and trendy pants tight on her bottom. Anticipated across the U.S. to excel in the rainy confines on such a perennial platform as the world’s finest Alpine skier, in all likelihood she’s proficient of winning five gold medals.

As it stands though, fans are perturbed and push the panic button as curiosity of her health woes numb our consciousness, while we are still harping on the photos appearing in a recent magazine issue.

It’s obvious the injury could affect Vonn’s ability, when she informed the media of her incident during a training run last week in Austria. But she remained secretive, refusing to inform the world of a potential heartbreaker.

Here’s her excuse:

“I didn’t want to alarm anybody,” she said on Wednesday, a day supporters, the committee, and even her corporate sponsors stared and heard the shocking revelations.

That’s what no one wanted to hear, regarding a four-year event that isn’t as popular as in recent years. In the yesteryears, the Winter Games captivated our interest. But now, the Summer Games are praised for its competitive nature, but also for the more popular events displayed in which we truly have a zest embracing track and field, basketball, and swimming, thanks in large part to the great 14-time gold medalist Michael Phelps.

So, greatly, the Winter Games need Vonn.

Unlike most women in sports, her athleticism and relentlessness have earned her a U.S. women’s record 31 World Cup victories while dealing with nagging pain. From a sliced tongue to an ailing back, she has experienced the pain and nursed injuries over the years.

What we’re witnessing now is a hellish Winter Games in Vancouver, a beautiful winter site where no one is really sure if there’s enough snow in the forecast, but enough rain to turn the Winter Games into the Soggy Games. Gloomed with a possible letdown, much attention is given to the big names, particularly if an athlete is nagged by severe injuries.

Unfortunately, Vonn is victimized by bad results. Had she not became a premier image of Sports Illustrated photos, Vonn probably wouldn’t had sustained brutal damage. Please understand, most athletes who appear inside—or worse, on the front cover—of Sports Illustrated is vulnerable of becoming jinxed.

Reminder: It still doesn’t mean she’s cursed, folks. Seen as the photo attraction, while everyone waited to see her as a skiing attraction. She is a victim of freak accidents, something uncontrollable and usually occurs when least expected. She’s suddenly experiencing a crestfallen episode, suffering the worse situation at the worse possible time.

It’s bad timing, since she’s chasing Olympic gold. She is chasing five gold medals and wishing to stand on the most prestigious stage. She wanted to be characterized and remembered as one of the finest Olympic stars to prosper in the Alpine events. If she somehow recovers in time, and attains all five gold medals, she’ll be known as one of the greatest skiing stars in U.S. Olympic history, if not the Winter Games.

It’s hard to envision Vonn winning any, when she has been unable to walk as well as unable to practice on skis. Earlier in the week, she had trouble and felt severe pain when she tried putting on a boot at the hotel.

 
”It’s hard to stay positive, you know,” Vonn said on Wednesday staring at reporters. “A week ago, I was feeling great, I was feeling healthy, I had no problems. And now, I’m sitting here today questioning whether I’ll be even able to ski. So, it’s not where I want to be, by any means. It’s probably the worst place that you can have an injury, because you’re constantly pushing against your boot, and there’s no way around it.”

The state of women’s athletics in America is becoming the epicenter of fashion, failing to acknowledge the competitiveness within the sport. Sometimes, women athletes forget the sport and become heavily concerned with popularity, while endorsed by fashion corporations.

Sadly, Vonn is more noticed if cameras are flashing, but captured fame based on her athleticism in prior years. She endorses the fancy and expensive watch called Rolex. More so, she’s the never Cover Girl. Seems that way, after talking about flaunting her body for an annual magazine swimsuit issue and the website. At least she’s not all over MySpace, I hope.

Another sponsor is Red Bull, the energy drink producing millions in profit. Sadly, we haven’t realized she’s an athlete, a prolific skier expected to participate in her first event called the Super-Combined on Sunday, aiming to win her first gold medal. It’s America, where all the tension and disappointment has deflated the pleasing scene. They traveled from the states to witness an Olympic panorama at Whistler Mountain.

Considering no U.S. Alpine skier has won more than two gold medals, Vonn was capable of reaching improbable glory in a country where premium skiers are groomed efficiently. But now, winning five gold medals seems impossible, when endorsing 10 sponsors and posing for photos seems realistic, simply because it’s stands for good business.

She’s a famous woman athlete, even though she’ll never earn as much perception as men athletes. Nowadays, women are getting equal opportunities at sports, but are still behold from the sexuality viewpoint, not the sports viewpoint.

It’s a redemptive tale, if she’s able to compete. The Turin Olympics wasn’t her best performance. Most of you probably remember when she crashed during the training and rested in the hospital. Oh, I remember.

At this time, it’s worth forgetting. Didn’t she recover? Yes. However, she raced in the downhill event, finishing eighth. Now is a moment for her to vanquish and erase the miserable flashbacks of the heartbreaking struggles.

Bad luck has slapped her hard in the face. Recently, Vonn rebounded quickly after sustaining a bruised wrist and somehow pressed on, when she managed a three-race win streak. That’s not all. She had a bloody accident when her knee bounced directly into her chin, in which her mouth bled after the sudden freak accident.

But somehow, she won the race.

She could be a world-class skier. Vonn has been devoted since she was two, and skied while growing up in Minnesota and Colorado.

We know she takes pride in the sport, but the question is now, can she compete?

Lindsey Vonn has just announced via her Facebook fan page that she thinks she will be able to compete in the Olympics, even if she has to grit her teeth through the pain.

Vonn, who decided to test her injured right shin for the first time today, before the practice was eventually called off because of excessive snow on the mountain top, said while the pain is still there, it is no longer the sharp, debilitating pain she felt earlier in the week.

"I was really happy to be back on snow today even if it was for only one freeski run. My shin was still very painful, but I feel like the injury is finally progressing a bit," Vonn said, "The pain level has gone down from a sharp debilitating pain to something that I feel I may be able to grit my teeth through. So that really puts a smile on my face."

"I won't know the full extent of what I am dealing with until I actually get on the downhill coarse. Generally I am disappointed when a training run is cancelled, but in this situation I definitely welcome the extra day to heal."

Vonn, who took pain killers and numbed her shin with creams prior to today's warmup, said it still caused her pain, but that it was good enough to take part in the training run.

This is promising news for the American skier, who was originally favored to win gold medals in two, possibly three, events in Whistler next week.

For more on Vonn's injury, read news from earlier today , including information about the snow that canceled her training run.

The gods may be smiling down on American alpine skier Lindsey Vonn, as the 25-year-old was given an extra day to rest her bruised shin when continuing snow canceled the women's downhill practice.

Vonn, who revealed yesterday that the injury may force her to miss the Olympic Games, said she wasn't sure whether she would be able to train today because of ongoing soreness in her right leg where her shin was pressed against the top of the boot.

But Vonn was given a helping hand when organizers called off the practice session, allowing her to rest the leg an extra day without being tempted to test out its strength in a "what if" test run.

Vonn, from Vail, Colorado, inspected the course this morning and had planned to ski, had the conditions allowed.

Around 9 am in Whistler, British Columbia, Vonn tweeted: "So I took a bunch of pain killers and numbed my shin with some creams. Warmup was still very painful but I think it was good enough to give it a shot in the training run. Wish me luck!"

The racers waited patiently as the training was first delayed, then canceled for the day after only a few racers went and only one finished. Another training run is scheduled for Friday, the day of the Opening Ceremony. Vonn is expected to make her first run then.

The CEO of the US Ski Team, Bill Marolt, said today he has no new information from what was given by team doctors yesterday. Although, he said Vonn's drive and determination may help her compete through the injury.

Marolt added: "I will say that, knowing her, her competitive drive, if anybody can be ready to go when [the] gun goes off, it will be Lindsey Vonn."

Marolt continued, "If you look at Lindsey the person, Lindsey the athlete, and Lindsey the international personality, I think that she’s going to carry that forward regardless. She has made a tremendous mark in her career with everything she’s done...She believes that she can make a difference and, in fact, she can make a difference because she’s got that smile, she’s got that gleam in her eye and people respond to that."

For more on Vonn, including her top six crashes, click here.

World Champion Lindsey Vonn says she is prepared to fight through the pain of a right shin injury in her bid to win gold at next week's Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

25-year-old Vonn injured her lower leg in her first slalom training session last week when she jammed a ski tip causing her shin to impact the top of her ski boot.

She is currently scheduled to take part in her first training run tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 11, at 9:30 AM local time at Whistler Creekside, although she has said she may be forced to sit out some or all of her practice runs to help rest the injury.

"I have to wait until the first training run on Thursday and go up there, put my skis on and see how it feels," Vonn said at a press conference Wednesday. "I'm thinking about how I can manage it so I can race well in all my disciplines. I don't know if that means sitting out a training run to get some extra rest. I'll have to keep doing therapy and play it by ear. All I can say is that I will do my best."

Vonn is one of the most high profile US athletes competing at the Games. The Sports Illustrated covergirl could easily become the darling of the Olympics with a strong multi-medal showing, and she is widely regarded as one of America's best medal hopes. Should she compete at her best, it is more than likely Vonn will take home a collection of silverware.

Vonn is hoping to compete in five events at the 2010 Olympics: downhill, super giant slalom, combined, giant slalom, and slalom. She is favorite to win gold in the downhill event, the competition where 17 of her 31 World Cup wins have come from, as well as in the Super G. She is also expected to contend for medals in at least one other event, if not two.

With Team USA projected to win between 25 and 30 medals in Vancouver, Vonn could plausibly represent 15 percent of the American medal haul.

The chief medical officer of the US Olympic Team, Dr. Jim Moeller, said in a statement earlier today: "Currently wearing the boot causes her discomfort. She is being cared for conservatively with rest and other treatments to reduce her discomfort. We will continue to monitor her condition to determine if she can train and compete as planned."

Vonn added: "I've fought through injuries before—I'm no stranger to that. But it's going to be really hard. I just have to try to stay positive and do the best I can."

Peter Frenette worked at an ice cream stand this summer. Nick Alexander washes dishes at a restaurant near his home. Anders Johnson cuts grass and spreads sod.

Meet Team USA’s trio of ski jumpers who will be battling for global supremacy on the slopes at Whistler Olympic Park next week.

If you put aside the glitz and the glamour of the 2010 Winter Olympics—the lavish opening ceremony, the Games’ storied 86-year history, and the 10,000 journalists, reporters, and media reps clamoring for interviews with the winners and heroes—there are hundreds of stories of hardship and sacrifice.

Just because Team USA will be among the top medal winners in Vancouver, their athletes—our athletes—are no different. Just ask America’s ski jumping team.

What many people who don’t follow the intricacies of the U.S. Ski Team may not know is that the Olympians are not fully funded. They need to find their own coaches, buy their own equipment, make their own way to international events and competitions.

It often means sacrificing college careers, renting budget accommodation on the road, and working part-time jobs to make ends meet. Their Olympic goals may be glamorous, but behind every ski jumper is a humble, hard-working young man with an equally-supportive network of family and friends.

Anders Johnson, from Park City, Utah, said in a press conference on Monday that without the support of his family he wouldn’t be where he is right now.

“We don’t have full support from the U.S. Ski Team which basically means we are forced into creating a private ski jumping team for ourselves. And that basically comes down to finding your own sponsorship money, your own coach and it’s really difficult to do with how the economy is now.

“All of our travel, all of our expenses, everything is done by mom and dad. I mean every trip, every piece of equipment is bought and paid for by ourselves, every plane ticket, everything. So, that’s a huge sacrifice for us.

“Nick and I both graduated high school, should be moving on to college and everything, but we’re sacrificing that part of our life into this sport. And it’s an even bigger sacrifice for our families to work that extra bit to keep our Olympic dream alive.

"I was an Olympian when I was only 16, so I still hadn’t finished high school. It’s a tough choice. For me school is waiting. You can go to college anytime you want, you can’t go to the Olympics at 56.

“Without our parents’ support we wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”

Peter Frenette, 17, from Saranac Lake, N.Y., the youngest male athlete on Team USA’s Olympic roster added: “It’s definitely hard seeing all my friends getting ready for college next year…but it’s hard when I don’t know if there is going be funding or anything like that. It’s kind of like a leap of faith. Maybe we will get funding. The results aren’t proven. It’s kind of a toss up between going to college and continuing ski jumping, making all those sacrifices like my mom and dad continue to pay. It’s definitely difficult.”

Twenty one-year-old Nick Alexander from Lebanon, N.H., had a similar dilemma. He could follow his Olympic dream of flying through the air on skis, or he could follow his dream of flying his own plane.

“That was a really tough decision because I got into a pretty good school that was a sure fire way of being a pilot,” Alexander said.

“So it was a really hard decision to choose between going to school, that’s another dream of mine, being a pilot, so I pursue this dream or that dream, it was a really hard decision. But I’ve been really fortunate. The town I live in, Lebanon, New Hampshire, everyone there seems really supportive. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them.”

Johnson added: “As far as the cost per season. I think my family and I ran the numbers a few times and it costs a little over $20,000 a year to do what we’re doing on a professional level. We try to cut as many corners as we can. We try to find cheap hotels. We’ve stayed in some pretty not-so-great places, but that’s another sacrifice you have to make.”

The trio's quest for Olympic glory begins on Friday morning. Fly or fall, financial security is more than just one jump away.

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Going for Gold: Team USA's Chances at 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver

Team USA will take a total of 216 athletes to Vancouver next week, including 87 returning Olympians with a combined 48 Olympic medals.

Among the 123 men set to compete for America in the 2010 Olympic Games are three Olympians heading to their fifth Winter Games: Luge athlete Mark Grimmette, Nordic combined skier Todd Lodwick, and ski cross racer Casey Puckett.

Grimmette and Lodwick were named to their fifth consecutive U.S. Olympic Team (1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010) last month, while Puckett will be competing in the Olympics for the first time since 2002 after four straight Winter Games as an alpine skier (1992, 1994, 1998, 2002).

The trio of athletes now join former bobsledder and current men’s bobsled head coach Brian Shimer as the only five-time U.S. Olympians to compete in a Winter Games in history.

The 2010 U.S. Olympic Team also boasts 12 four-time Olympians, 22 three-time Olympians, and 50 two-time Olympians. 80 Olympians return from the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, where the U.S. finished second in the overall medal count with 25.

Here's a look at the three Americans who will be making history in Vancouver.

Mark Grimmette

Grimmette is one of the most successful luge racers in American history. Along with partner Brian Martin, he has won two Olympic and six world championship medals, as well as three overall World Cup titles.

Lillehammer 1994

Grimmette, then racing with doubles partner Jonathan Edwards, missed out on a medal on his first trip to the Winter Olympics by 0.344, just over one-third of a second.

The duo was fifth after their first run and, despite a slightly slower second run, was able to jump up into fourth place in the final standings. They finished half a second behind eventual winners Kurt Brugger and Wilfried Huber, who led an Italian one-two.

Nagano 1998

With a new partner in Brian Martin, Grimmette won his Olympic medal four years later in Japan with a bronze in the luge mens doubles.

The pair recorded the second fastest time of any team during the second round, missing out on a silver medal by just nine one hundredths of a second from teammates Chris Thorpe and Gordy Sheer.

The German pairing of Stefan Krausse and Jan Behrendt, third in Lillehammer, took the gold medal.

Salt Lake City 2002

Grimmette entered his home Olympic games on the back of three consecutive bronze medals at the World Championships in Konigssee (1999), St. Moritz (2000), and Calgary (2001).

Still, it wasn’t enough to propel to propel him and his partner Martin to Olympic gold, as they lost out to the German team of Patric-Fritz Leitner and Alexander Resch by 0.134.

Grimmette and Martin, third after round one, leapfrogged fellow Americans Chris Thorpe and Clay Ives into second place by just four one thousandths of a second after posting the quickest time out of any nation in the second round.

Torino 2006

After winning a bronze medal in 1998 and a silver in 2002, everything pointed towards a spot on the very top of the podium in Torino.

Grimmette was better and stronger than ever before and Team USA was in a prime position to make another run at a gold medal. Grimmette had won the Luge World Cup in 2003 and was coming off of back-to-back silver medals in the World championships.

Injuries had made the immediate run-up to the Olympics difficult and an eighth-place finish in the World Cup was far from ideal preparation. But still, everything was going pretty well and the pair was seen as strong contenders for another medal.

Then disaster struck. In the first heat of the competition, Grimmette and Martin wiped out in curve 14 of the demanding 19-turn course, sliding past Grimmette’s sister and fiancé who were watching further down the track.

Neither racer made it through the press’ questions without fighting back the tears. Neither will want to experience this feeling again.

The duo, which have been racing together 14 years, will get one last shot at a gold medal in Vancouver. If Grimmette wants to go out on top, this may be the last chance he gets.

Todd Lodwick

Like Grimmette, Nordic combined skier Lodwick will also be appearing in his fifth consecutive Olympic Games for Team USA.

He is seen by many as the most successful North American athlete ever to compete in the sport, having won 18 US championships, six World Cups and a World Championship.

Lillehammer 1994

17-year-old Lodwick finished 20th in the individual competition, and, with John Jarrett and Steven Heckman, he helped Team USA to seventh overall in the 3x10-kilometer team event.

Nagano 1998

Lodwick improved on his 1994 performance, finishing 13th in the individual competition. As in Lillehammer, Team USA finished 10th overall.

A good second jump of 89 meters was negated by a poor opening jump of just 82.5 meters, resulting in a poor start position for the cross-country race.

After starting the staggered 15-kilometer race in 13th place and almost two-and-a-half minutes behind the leader, there was little chance of making up the ground needed to place inside the top three.

Salt Lake City 2002

After finishing eighth in the 2001 World Cup sprint standings, Lodwick headed into the 2002 Games full of confidence that he could repeat his top-10 finish a year earlier.

He finished fifth in the sprint, seventh in the individual competition, and he just missed out on a team medal, with the US finishing in fourth.

His seventh-placed finish was the best Nordic combined result by any US Olympian, and he finished two minutes 27 seconds behind Finish gold medallist Samppa Lajunen.

He was seventh after the jumping part of the competition, but failed to make up ground on the leaders in the cross-country race.

The then-three time Olympian from Steamboat Springs, Colo., said he was very happy to have the best US result, but disappointed he did not do better.

Torino 2006

Torino piled more disappointment on Lodwick as he was unable to build on a successful 2005 World Cup campaign that saw him take a bronze medal in the sprint and a fourth-placed finish in the overall standings.

He could only manage ninth in the sprint, eighth in the individual, and seventh as part of Team USA. He battled stomach flu throughout the week-long buildup to the competition, and he complained of head congestion on the day of the race.

In what was then thought to be Lodwick’s fourth and final Olympics Games—his fourth time without a medal on the sport’s biggest stage—Lodwick publicly criticized teammate Carl van Loan, saying he was out of shape and that he was the weak link in the team that finished one place outside of the medals. Van Loan said Lodwick was not a team player and Lodwick retired at the end of 2006.

2010 is almost certainly Lodwick’s last shot at a medal. His 2009 season was highlighted with World Championship success, and his comeback appears to be on track.

The team competition may be his best chance, although he can’t be counted out if he jumps well in the individual competition.

Casey Puckett

Puckett, from Aspen, Colo., competed in four straight Winter Games as an alpine skier between 1992 and 2002. He retired from the U.S. Alpine Ski Team in 2002 before returning to the slopes in 2008 to try out ski cross, which makes its Olympic debut in Vancouver.

Calgary 1992

The 19-year-old competed in his first Winter Olympics in Calgary in 1992, alongside older brother Chris. After winning the World junior Championships in 1991, Casey finished 25th in giant slalom, five places behind top American Rob Parisien.

Lillehammer 1994

Puckett had his best-ever Olympic finish two years later in Norway when he finished in seventh in the slalom at the 1994 Lillehammer Games. He did not finish the giant slalom course, one of 27 of the 61 competitors unranked at the end of the competition.

In an event where tenths of a second can make the difference between winning and losing, Puckett finished less than a second away from a bronze medal.

Nagano 1998

Puckett joined Bode Miller as a DNF in Shiga Kogen in Japan, with both Americans failing to finish their first run. Miller missed a gate within yards of the finish and Puckett also slid off the course in the giant slalom.

It marked the third Olympic Games in a row where Casey did not finish at least one of his events, and the second consecutive time he did not reach the finish line in the first run of the GS.

Salt Lake City 2002

As an alpine skier, Puckett had his best World Cup finish in Austria in 2001 when he finished fourth. While medal hopes were not too realistic heading into Salt Lake City, they were not completely out of mind for Team USA.

However, Puckett did not finish in the combined competition and he left the sport shortly after.

Puckett switched to freestyle skiing in 2008 to take up ski cross, and he has since finished second three times in World Cup events. He also finished fifth in the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships last year.