Lindsey Jacobellis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Olympics Women's Snowboarding
Olympic medal record
Silver	2006 Turin	Snowboard Cross
X Games Medal Record
Women's Snowboarding
Gold	2003	Snowboard Cross
Gold	2004	Snowboard Cross
Gold	2005	Snowboard Cross
Silver	2007	Snowboard Cross

Lindsey Jacobellis (born August 19, 1985 in Danbury, Connecticut) is an American Snowboarder from Stratton, Vermont.

Jacobellis is one of the most decorated and successful women's snowboarders currently active in the world today. At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Jacobellis won the silver medal in her Women's Snowboard Cross Olympics debut.

[edit] Olympic error

During the gold medal final of the Snowboard Cross at the 2006 Winter Olympics on February 17, 2006, Jacobellis was approaching the end of the course with a 43-meter (140-foot), three-second lead over Tanja Frieden of Switzerland. On the second-to-last jump, Jacobellis attempted a backside method grab, landed on the edge of her snowboard, and fell. Frieden passed her to win the gold; Jacobellis settled for silver. In televised interviews, Jacobellis initially claimed the grab was meant to maintain stability, but later admitted that it was not necessary. Lindsey said "Snowboarding is fun, I was having fun."[1] In the 2007 X-Games, she again lost the lead in a fall near the finish line.

In the press coverage that followed, sports analysts searched for a similar instance in which showboating dearly cost an athlete; often mentioned were Leon Lett's would-be touchdown in 1993's Super Bowl XXVII and Bill Shoemaker's standing in the saddle before the finish line of the 1957 Kentucky Derby. [2][3]