For Street, new path awaits

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SNOWBASIN, Utah -- She retired the way she competed. Without pretense or fear. Without pause or regret. And, as always, at full speed.

Picabo Street walked off the slope Tuesday and into the bleachers. She checked her time on the stadium clock -- a 1:41.16 that would be good for 16th in the women's downhill -- and then she punched out.

There was no podium on the bottom of the slope, just a row in the bleachers. There were no flowers or medals to hold, just a nephew on one knee and a goddaughter on the other.

Her final day on the job would be memorable not for its place in history, but rather its promise of the future.

She hugged her father. She joked with her brother. She embraced the idea that life can revolve around something other than the next mountain.

"I'm relieved to be done with my career. I'm relieved to be safe," Street said. "It was worth it. All of it was worth it. To come back after all the injuries and all the times I wondered. I'm now done. And it's so pleasing.

"I've got my handle on the small world of ski racing and now it's time to get my handle on the big world, which is what's real."

And, just like that, America's most famous skiing career is no more.

It has not always been pleasant, and it has not always been easy. Some say Street is rebellious, stubborn and self-absorbed.

And then there are those who don't like her.

Even Tuesday, a day when the loudest ovations were reserved not for the medal winners but for Street, there was resentment. U.S. teammate Kirsten Clark, who placed 12th, said it was "unfortunate" the focus was on Street.

If there was resentment in certain circles, it certainly was earned. No one skied as well. And no one talked about it more.

Street, 30, took skiing places it never had been. Like magazine covers. And Sesame Street. She rubbed elbows with Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan. She was an acquaintance of Dale Earnhardt. She wrote a book, and she made speaking engagements. She was flower child with spunk. A renegade with charisma.

She also was an amazing athlete. Her career includes a silver in the 1994 Olympics, a gold in '98 and two season championships. Street also returned from several horrifying crashes and multiple knee injuries. She spent nearly three years rehabilitating after tearing all four ligaments in her right knee and nearly breaking her left femur bone in half a month after Nagano.

In a way, that might make her final run at the Olympics the most impressive of Street's career. Even though she did not come close to a medal -- her time was 1.61 seconds behind gold-medal winner Carole Montillet of France -- it still is remarkable she was able to overcome the physical destruction and emotional wreckage of her final crash.

"My mom said, "When you look back on this, what you did today is going to be enough for you. I promise,' " Street said. "My parents don't have to wait for that phone call at 3 o'clock in the morning anymore. My dad used to lay up in anticipation for that phone call from me (overseas) saying, "I won again Dad.' The last few years they've waited for that phone call just to hear me say, "I'm done and I'm safe.' They didn't care about anything else."

The Street family never has been the most conventional of clans. Picabo was born at home in Triumph, Idaho, and her father, Stubby, said he literally helped breathe life into her after the delivery. The family had a definite 1960s vibe about it and little has changed. With his hair tied into a ponytail, Stubby gave Picabo a bear hug in the bleachers.

Tucked under his arm was a U.S. flag that he said was first placed on Picabo's bed when she was 3 years old and made the previous Olympic trips to Lillehammer and Nagano.

"When she was a little girl, we would hike up the hill and ski down together," her father said. "I used to tell her to turn where I turned. Then I started turning where she turned. Then, I just watched her go."

Street often has talked about destiny and fate when it has come to her skiing career. The way it turned out Tuesday, fate did not appear to be a friend.

The downhill was supposed to be run on Monday, but high winds postponed it a day. Street had a favorable draw on Monday as the No. 2 skier. When the draw was redone for Tuesday, she was No. 26. By the time she went down the hill, the conditions also had gone downhill.

Street, however, did not dwell on the poor draw. Instead, she suggested fate might have been working for the French ski team. France's Regine Cavagnoud was killed recently in a downhill accident. And then Montillet, who had never won a world class downhill event in her life, takes Olympic gold.

"If you're paying attention, God doesn't work in such mysterious ways. He works in real strategic ways," Street said. "His hand was upon us today. He did what was needed to do to make the day turn out the way it did."

Sometimes, when you reach the bottom, you can find that, in some ways, maybe you still are on top.

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