Jacobellis Rewrites Her Story in Gold

She had by no means gotten there first, although, not even again in 2006, when she had the result in herself yards from the road and misplaced the gold in one of many best-known Olympics blunders in historical past.

On Wednesday, on her fifth Olympic strive, on the age of 36, she wouldn’t let gold slip away once more. Jacobellis lastly captured her storybook ending whereas delivering america its first gold medal on the Beijing Video games.

Hers is a story of a gold medal, misplaced after which discovered, 16 years later.

Jacobellis led the four-woman ultimate from the beginning, her blonde hair spilling out of her helmet because the riders spent 90 seconds navigating the winding course of banked corners, washing-board rollers and large jumps.

This time, when the end was in sight, Jacobellis stored her crouch low. As she crossed the road, she beamed an enormous smile and put her fingers to her coronary heart, as if to carry it in.

“It sort of simply appeared like an unbelievable second,” she mentioned afterward. “It didn’t appear actual on the time.”

Her win was a narrative of quiet perseverance, although it will likely be painted as redemption for Jacobellis. She by no means noticed it that method. She by no means seen her fall on the 2006 Turin Olympics — when a untimely celebration price her a certain victory — as one thing to redeem. It was a momentary lapse, a little bit of youthful whimsy. It price her in ways in which she is going to by no means know. She want to suppose now that it helped her, spurred her on.

Again then, Jacobellis was 20, a younger star within the making, endorsements ready, the gold medal in sight. However over her final leap, with no rivals round, she added a little bit of aptitude within the air — a seize of her board. She landed on her heels and fell on her bottom, spinning 3 times in a mud of snow.

Switzerland’s Tanja Frieden zipped previous earlier than Jacobellis might collect herself and journey to the end for second place, one of many extra unforgettable silver medals in Olympics historical past.

“The saddest snow angel within the Alps,” The New York Occasions known as her that day.

The second, at its easiest and cruelest, was a hinge in an extended saga. As a woman, Jacobellis was referred to as Fortunate Lindsey. As a girl, at the very least on the Olympics, she was something however.

On the 2010 Winter Video games in Vancouver, British Columbia, Jacobellis swerved astray in a semifinal warmth and missed the ultimate. And in 2014, in Sochi, Russia, she was main a semifinal warmth when she came upon a set of small jumps late within the race and missed the ultimate once more. In 2018, she returned to the ultimate, one other probability to seize a gold medal. She completed fourth.

It gnawed at her greater than she allowed on Wednesday, or perhaps greater than she remembered. In an interview forward of the 2018 Video games, she admitted as a lot.

“Wouldn’t it simply be good if the media didn’t harangue me for one thing that occurred 12 years in the past?” she mentioned then. “I’m certain we are able to go into everybody’s previous 12 years in the past and select one thing that they coulda, shoulda, woulda finished. It’s simply mine was on a world stage that folks have a tough time forgetting, or they simply suppose that’s the one factor that’s occurred or that it outlined me as an athlete.”

By then she had employed a psychological coach, to assist her carry out higher below stress. The U.S. snowboarding staff’s coach, Peter Foley, mentioned on the time that the quadrennial public disappointments had been in Jacobellis’s head.

“She’s had a nasty expertise with the Olympics, and in quite a lot of methods she dreads the Olympics now,” Foley mentioned on the time. “It could be good if she might really feel higher about it.”

Between the Olympics disappointments, Jacobellis spent years successful World Cup trophies, X Video games titles and world championships. She grew to become a task mannequin in her sport, revered for her work ethic and her consistency. Outdoors the game’s bubble, although, the questions concerning the Olympics stored coming, relentlessly, each 4 years.

She persistently downplayed their significance. When requested about 2006, she by no means felt the necessity to clarify. It occurred. What might she do?

It was why she smiled via the aftermath of her victory on Wednesday, and waved as she stepped to the highest of the rostrum for the post-race flower ceremony, however by no means launched the unbridled emotion that others may need anticipated, having been bottled for 16 years.

After spending her grownup life making an attempt to maneuver past the second, it could have been incongruent to deal with the gold medal as an exorcism. She was not snug validating anybody’s notion of redemption.

“I by no means considered it that method — that was not in my thoughts,” she mentioned. “I needed to only come right here and compete. It could have been a pleasant candy factor, however I believe if I had tried to spin the considered redemption then it’s sort of taking away give attention to what’s the duty at hand.”

However the 2006 spill could have altered her life, she acknowledged, perhaps greater than a gold medal then or now.

“It actually formed me into the person that I’m and stored me hungry, and actually helped me maintain preventing within the sport,” Jacobellis mentioned. Had she gained gold then, she mentioned, “I in all probability would have stop the game at that time, as a result of I wasn’t actually having enjoyable with it.”

Because the solar fell on her fifth Olympics, Jacobellis let others fill within the emotional gaps. Belle Brockhoff of Australia, a longtime pal and rival, was among the many swarms of admirers congratulating her.

“She’s like, ‘I’m so comfortable that this occurred for you, as a result of I used to be little after I watched you in 2006,’” Jacobellis mentioned.

Her teammate Stacy Gaskill, 21, mentioned it meant every thing to see Jacobellis lastly win their sport’s largest prize. As Gaskill talked about her victory, she started to cry.

“I don’t suppose there’s any phrases that may seize that second,” Gaskill mentioned. “For Lindsey to win in her fifth Video games and be on the pinnacle of this sport so lengthy and encourage so many younger women like me — she is the face of this sport.”