Lindsey Jacobellis' critical mistake cost her the lead, and a gold medal in snowboard cross.
By JOHN ROMANO, Times Sports Columnist
Published February 18, 2006
CESANA, Italy - She was trying to draw attention to herself.
And now Lindsey Jacobellis will forever be remembered for it.
The 20-year-old from Vermont lost the gold medal in the snowboard cross Friday when she tried showing off within sight of the finish line.
Jacobellis grabbed her board in celebration as she was flying through the air on the second-to-last jump, but she lost her balance and crashed the landing.
Switzerland's Tanja Frieden, who had been about 50 yards behind, swept past as Jacobellis struggled to get upright. Frieden won the gold, and Jacobellis recovered in time to get the silver.
"I was caught up in the moment," Jacobellis said. "I think every now and then you might see something like that. I didn't even think twice. I was having fun, and that's what snowboarding is. I was ahead. I wanted to share with the crowd my enthusiasm.
"I messed up. It happens."
Jacobellis initially claimed she was not trying to showboat. She insisted that she had been having trouble with the wind on that particular jump and that she twisted and grabbed her board with her left hand for stability.
However, Frieden and Canada's Dominique Maltais, who won bronze, said they had no trouble with wind or that jump.
U.S. Snowboarding coach Peter Foley began by defending Jacobellis but eventually acknowledged the move was ill-timed.
"She definitely styled that a little too hard," Foley said. "It's always my worry that they don't race as hard as they can all the way to the finish. So when I was watching the whole time, I'm yelling at the TV screen, "Keep racing, keep racing!' "
Much of the course is out of sight of the crowd, which watches the top half of the race on a scoreboard screen. Jacobellis attempted the trick - called a backside method grab - when she got in view of the grandstand.
The crowd in Bardonecchia groaned when she tumbled, and Foley seemed to drop in disbelief.
"That was definitely not the best grab of choice to be strategic," Jacobellis said. "If you see any of my races, you know I'm always grabbing. It helps get me on the ground as fast as possible."
Jacobellis became familiar to U.S. television viewers in a credit card commercial that ran repeatedly before the Games.
"The silver medal ... is still a silver medal," Jacobellis said. "The USA is on the podium anyway."
While midair tricks are a staple of the halfpipe, the snowboard cross is a far different event. Riders try to keep their air time to a minimum because they move faster when they're on the snow.
Several other riders had done similar tricks on the final jumps during qualifying runs the past two days, but Jacobellis was the only one to fall.
"I was stoked to get silver," said Frieden, who is the girlfriend of American Seth Wescott, who won the men's snowboard cross gold on Thursday. "All of a sudden I saw her crash, and it was like "Whoa.' "
Jacobellis had led the race from the start and kept checking over her shoulder to make sure no one was closing the gap.
"I was disappointed in myself because I am a fierce competitor and I put a lot of pressure on myself," Jacobellis said.
For a few moments, Jacobellis thought she was going to be an Olympic champion.
And those moments cost her the gold medal.
Information from wires and other news organizations was used in this report.
