Olympic redemption after 16 years
Jacobellis heals her wound of stupidity
2/9/2022, 6:32 p.m
Lindsey Jacobellis would have been an Olympic champion a long time ago if she hadn’t committed an extremely fatal mistake 16 years ago. The snowboard crosser is miles in the lead in Turin before she jumps for a show and falls before the finish line – now there is finally redemption.
Lindsey Jacobellis cried out her joy. She sagged. She clutched her head, her heart in disbelief. Gold in snowboard cross. Finally! She had waited 16 long years for this. And quite incidentally, the 36-year-old also secured the first gold in China for the US team, which is otherwise used to success. “It was just an incredible moment,” Jacobellis said of her feelings as she crossed the finish line: “At that moment, it didn’t seem real.” It was also really amazing that Jacobellis of all people could celebrate.
After all, there seemed to be something of an Olympic curse on the blond boy from California ever since she threw away gold in a drama in Turin in 2006. While she was clearly in the lead, she tried an unnecessary trick shortly before the finish, she fell and had to settle for silver. A fatal stupidity. Mockery rained down on her. “They can talk about it as much as they want because it’s really shaped me into who I am,” Jacobellis said. “And it’s kept me hungry and really helped me keep fighting in this sport.”
After Turin, she won pretty much everything there is to win in her sport. Jacobellis has been world champion five times, she has won the X Games eight times, and she has risen to become the most decorated snowboard cross athlete in history. But at the Olympics, Jacobellis remained unfinished. 2010: Fifth. 2014: Seventh. 2018: Fourth. But now, 2022: finally gold. On the fifth try. “I’m just a competitor, I was that as a child,” said Jacobellis: “It was just inoculated into me because I’m a younger sibling.”