Picabo (2022) - full transcript

(crowd cheering)

[Announcer] The Olympic flame is
now approaching the stadium.

**

Picabo Street
and Cammi Granato.

(crowd cheering)

[News Broadcaster]
As the date approaches,

you're going to hear
lots about Picabo.

An amazing American

with an unusual name turns
Olympic skiing upside down.

[Picabo] I'm going to
tell you all about

my year and how ripping
awesome it was because



it felt damn good
to kick some Europeans butt.

I'll tell you what.

- It's a European sport,

and frankly, we're
an embarrassment.

You couldn't find skiing
in any newspaper.

Nobody was talking about it.

- Picabo put ski racing
back on the map.

[Announcer] One of those
rare downhillers

whose name has transcended
the sport.

Dorfmeister watches

as Picabo Street replaces her
as the leader by over a second.

What an amazing run.

- All of a sudden,

ski racing is being talked
about in someone's household.



- My guest is the infamous
Picabo Street.

- There's some people where you

know that they've
entered the room,

and then there are some people

where you don't really
realize they came.

- Thanks, thanks.

- You were tremendous.
- You were wonderful.

- When she came into the room,
you knew she was there.

- Yahoo!!

(screams)

- In the speed events,

downhill and Super G,
Picabo Street is the greatest

North American,
male or female ever to race,

and she has paid a physical
and emotional price.

- The more fearlessness that you

can demonstrate going down the
hill, the better the payoff.

- People ask me,

what are you thinking when
you're going that fast?

I said, I'm thinking about
how I can go faster.

- For someone to be able to
pursue their dream through all

that adversity, it takes someone
who is radically committed.

In my experience,
every single professional

athlete is running
to escape something.

- One of the shining stars

from the 1998 Winter Olympics
is in trouble with the law.

Picabo Street has been charged
with assault and domestic

violence after an incident
involving her father.

- After her career,

she was in the press,
and that's when she was really

misunderstood
and misrepresented.

- She just had a big heart
and liked people and was

naturally inclined
to help people.

And I think that helped pave

the way for Lindsey and a whole
new generation of skiers, too.

- For all the young
ones out there

that have the same
dream, go for it.

Because dreams can come true.

- Lindsey's good friend and
mentor, Picabo Street.

(cheering)

- Thank you.

When I met her,
she was nine years old.

She stood taller than everybody
else and she still does.

I'm super proud of how she's

handled becoming the greatest
American skier of all times.

Miss Lindsey Vonn!

(cheering)

- I've looked up to Picabo since

I was a little girl,
and it means so much to me

to have her here and to be so
supportive over my whole career.

- First time, right?
- Yep.

Nothing like interviewing your
idol for your first time.

(calm music)

- I'm always like,

I hate the cold and everyone's
like... What?

- Same with me!
They're like, what's wrong?

Why are you cold?

I'm like, because I
don't like the cold.

- Never liked it. They're like,
Why do I go so fast?

I want to get the bottom.

- Put my clothes on.

- When you started skiing,
what drew you to it?

What did you love about it?

Did it change when
you were a kid

to when you started racing?

- I don't think so.

I think it was the
same thing always.

I just fell in love
with the speed.

I fell in love with
being able to harness that.

And something inside of me felt
like this should feel out

of control all the time,
but it doesn't.

And I like making it not
feel out of control.

- And do you feel like that is
different from your life?

I know for me, skiing was always

the outlet where I felt
the most in control.

- I would say that for sure
because especially, like,

when you're there
and you're going, it's you.

When we're going, it's us.

So you're totally relying

on yourself for everything
to come through.

(calm music)

(snap)

- Picabo,
you are, like, my hero,

and this is such a full
circle moment for me.

I am where I am because of you.

And I still have your poster

that you signed when I
was nine in my bedroom.

I brought it here just to like,
show you...

- To prove it exists.
- Yes.

Yeah, like, when we were racing

together, we're
on the same team.

But I was like, your shadow.

And so for me, this is such
an honor, and I want to know.

I mean, I know pretty much
everything there is to know

about you, but where
did it all begin?

Where did Picabo come from?

[Picabo] Triumph was the fun
sports game beginning for me.

I would do my chores as well as
I could do them to earn

the right to go play
and figure out who I was.

Growing up here.

As I've gotten older,
I look back on it.

Every time I come back here,
I think about how

such a small town and so
many really close people.

I felt like I had not just

my family, but the family
within the community.

It was like 32 people,
very work oriented.

I had my brother,
was one of seven or eight boys

in town that I had
to interact with.

- So you entertained yourself.

And it was bikes and hiking and

cops and robbers and everything
was a competition.

[Picabo] I was competitive
all the time.

I mean, I had to beat my brother

to the breakfast, lunch,
and dinner table.

I had to beat him
down with the food.

I had to beat him down with our

chores when we got
home from school.

I mean, I was competing with him

all my life,
in everything I did.

- Peeky was pretty tomboyed out
because it was all boys

in the community,
and she was going to be a better

boy than the boys were,
even though she was a girl.

- If you drove by,

you wouldn't know that there was
a girl in the mix.

[Picabo] There's a town 20 miles
south of Triumph called Picabo.

The way I spell my name,

it has a beautiful river
running through it.

And Picabo is

the Native American name
for shining waters.

- We were poor,
we didn't have money.

We grew our own food.

We went shopping once and you

wore those clothes
and rode the school bus.

- This was my favorite spot.

I learned how
to ski right there.

Every time I come back and look
at it, I think about how steep

it is and how aggressive
that was for me to tackle that.

By the end, I'd come
bombing down here.

I remember just bombing down
and worrying, actually,

that I would go off into Mom's
garden and how much trouble I

was going to get if I did
that, but I never did.

- How did you do it yourself?

- I just needed it to happen.

- You just grabbed your
brother's equipment?

- I waited for them
all to go inside.

It was just like, just kind
of stealthy out there.

And he comes out like,
what are you doing up there?

And I'm like, Watch.

And I skied and
didn't fall down.

And I'm sure it wasn't pretty,
but showed some skills.

And he was like, wow.

(calm music)

Once I got good enough
in the backyard.

Then my first experience was

right over in Sun Valley
on Quarter Dollar.

And I got on the chairlift
with my brother.

I held on like a little baby
the whole way up the chairlift.

We got off the top and I
went straight to the bottom.

Straight was fearless,
stiff legged snow plow out

there, just bumping along
and got to the bottom.

And my brother came down and he
said to me, you can turn.

And I said, Why?

One of the things my dad did,

we'd get to the top
of the mountain, 9:15 a.m..

And he'd say to me, all right,
well, we're headed to the bowls

and you're welcome
to come, but keep up.

Otherwise we'll see
at the car at four o'clock.

And I'm thinking, four o'clock?!

I don't have any money.
I can't get lunch.

I got to keep up.

So, I mean, I learned how to be

the skier I am because of the
mountain right here, Baldy.

It's an amazing mountain.

From then on, it's basically
been downhill for me.

- She was always chasing
the groups ahead of her because

she was beating
everybody her own age.

She would beat all the girls
and the boys,

and then she'd start going
after the groups ahead of her.

The older kids.

Mom said, she goes, I had
two jobs in life. With you,

it was keeping you fed.

And she goes as far as Peek,
It was keeping her alive.

- She was a full time kid,
you know, one of those that you

have to run around after all
the time, keep them safe.

- My father raised me like,

you work hard and then you play
hard, kind of get your chores

done and then have
at it kind of thing.

So, yeah, I've always
raised them like that.

[Picabo] My father
was a stonemason

and he built some of the coolest

and most beautiful structures
in the Sun Valley area.

[Baba] An attribute
of dad that a lot

people didn't know is

that the guy would have given
you the shirt off on his back.

He was an extremely
giving person,

but dad carried
a lot of anger in his life.

[Picabo] My father was
raised in a very

uncomfortable environment,
and he didn't know how to set up

a more comfortable
environment himself.

If you grew up in this
atmosphere, you know it when

you're asleep and you wake
up to your parents fighting.

There's a certain
thump on the floor.

There's a certain
sound of the slap.

There's a certain

velocity in a voice
that stays with you forever.

And I just looked for positive

energy in life where
it had it to give me.

I love the view from the top

of a mountain,
and it was an escape for me.

[Announcer] On every
corner of this

magnificent city,
Olympic fever is in the air.

The women's Giant Slalom is the
first Alpine event to be held.

Cristin Cooper,
Debbie Armstrong,

Tamara McKinney formed the core
of America's hope for medals.

[Picabo] I didn't watch
TV till I was 13 years old,

and when I saw Cristin Cooper
and Tamara McKinney skiing,

I realized, wow,
that's what I want to do.

That's where I want to be.

(upbeat music)

That was it.
That was me.

That was what I wanted to do.

I, in all my innocence, looked
up at my father and said,

Hey Dad, I want to go
to the Olympics

and win a medal in skiing.

That's when he turns and goes,
Great.

Sounds like a good plan.

Family apples are all
going in your basket.

Don't drop it.

From the time when I was 10
to about 15,

we really were hammering
everything into my skiing.

All the money we brought in as

a family, cleaning houses,
and my dad doing his

stonemasonry went
right into me skiing.

- Picabo is remarkable.

Came from a very
hard working family.

They didn't have the money
to take care of everything,

so we helped her
whenever we could.

We went out and found money.

We found equipment.

- It's an expensive sport,
we'll call it.

So there's a demographic
of people that are involved

in it, and there's
a demographic that aren't.

That was what really fueled her

fire to, okay, well,
I'm going to beat your ass

in my rags while you're
wearing your Gucci.

And she did.

- The very first time
she showed up.

And she had mentioned her name

was Picabo, and one of the
boys was teasing her about it.

Well, next thing I know,
that boy is coming to me.

He's got a bloody
nose and he's crying.

And he's going I said, What
in the heck happened to you?

And he said, Well,
Picabo, she hit me.

And I said, well,
why did she hit you?

He says, Because I was
teasing her about her name.

I mean, she was just tough.

[Picabo] There were a
lot of times when I

just walked away,
kind of holding my head low

because I was a little bit
embarrassed about how many

people I had beaten,
how fast I had actually gone.

And I didn't have anything else

in mind but skiing as
fast as I possibly could.

[Announcer]
Out front is Jean Claude Killy,

one of the greatest
Champions of all time.

[Picabo] My dad,
he drove the bus

for the Sun Valley Ski Resort.

He used to drive
Jean Claude Killy.

So Jean gets off the bus one

day, and my dad goes,
So my daughter's a ski racer.

And John turns around.
Oh, really?

It's like, yeah, she skis
for the local team here.

She's actually

on the US Development Team now,
and she's dreaming of going

to the Olympics and winning
a gold medal one day.

And Jean Claude is like,
what's her name?

I'll keep track of her.

Then he comes home and tells us

at dinner that night, oh, I told
Jean Claude Killy about you.

I'm like, who's that?

He's like,
just the greatest skier ever.

It made me super excited.

Like, yeah, my dad
believes in me.

But at the same time,
I was like (gasps)

(upbeat music)

- I was lucky to be
invited to be

the head coach for
this junior team.

An amazing group of young women
came along, including Picabo.

When she was 14.

Picabo was brash,

and everybody around her was
a little brash going,

this is the next Olympic gold
medalist, and you've got to take

her immediately onto the ski
team,

but you've got to have
the maturity with all

the demands of wearing
a national team uniform.

[Heidi Voelker] I think back,

being on the US Ski Team at such
a young age, it's mind blowing.

I mean, in a sense,
the US Ski Team raised us.

We were gone from our families
ten months out of the year.

- They're videoing us
coming to you live

from Lone, Norway.

- Did you fit in? Do you think?
- No.

No, I didn't fit in
very much at all.

I was sassy.

I was irreverent and driven.

I was competitive, but more so
with myself than anyone else.

- Some of the ski
coaches would say,

there's no doubt about it.
Picabo street has great

natural ability, but she
doesn't work like she should.

- I think they could say that
about me at one point in time.

And they did.
- At this early stage.

- At this early stage,

when I first got on,
they believed that.

And these exact words,

Picabo Street will
never amount to anything.

She cannot follow the rules.

(chuckles)

And when I heard that one,
I just laughed.

Like, rules are
meant to be broken.

And that's kind of how I felt.

And I was going to make it work.

- Don't! It's gonna look
so bad on camera.

- I showed up to camp
fat, sassy.

And so it was like,
you're gone. Boom, out of here.

You're gone off the team,
sent home.

Lied to my dad,
tried telling me, fine,

I'm training, whatever he's
like, here's what's happening.

The apple basket dropped.

The apples are all
over everywhere.

And you need to start gathering
them up and put them

in a basket, and you need to get
on a plane on Monday for Hawaii.

- Your dad, in fact,
gave you two options.

He said, either hit
the highway or come join me.

And your parents had moved
to Maui at the time,

and he was a mason
rebuilding walls and things.

He said, Come work
with me for a while.

- I think the situation was
that it was time for her

to decide if she really
wanted it or not.

And we did kind of put
her on the spot.

[Picabo] But it's hard
to be in Hawaii on boot camp.

- Who was your trainer?
- Just my dad.

The Marine stepped in.

- Your dad was a Marine?

- My dad was a Marine.
- I didn't know that.

- Yeah.

- So you went back and you
did a lot of hard, manual

labor that kind of straightened
you out a little bit, didn't it?

- It did.
It did straight me out.

I mean, I was studying hard,
finishing up my high school.

I couldn't talk on the phone.

I couldn't go out.

I was under Dad's thumb.

I grew a lot.

My dad's and my relationship

bonded at a new level because
when I left, he slipped a 50

in an envelope, and he
wrote a little note.

And his exact words were,

Your best interest
is my only concern.

And I was like,
I got to do this.

That's all he cares about.

That's all he wants me to do
is be the best that I can be.

And he knows I can be
the best in the world.

[Announcer] The United
States of America!

(cheering)

- She was really ready
to come on in 93.

And that's when we had the
World Championships in Morioka.

And she won a silver
medal in the combined.

And completely unexpected.

The European coaches
were just snickering.

What is this name?
Picabo?

It's not even a real name.

- Ching ching!

Oh, my God.

Ching ching.
- Go ahead and buy that Harley.

- * I'm gonna be
riding a Harley! *

- Did you have any expectations

coming into the
World Championships,

Picabo, that a medal was
a possibility for you?

- Yeah, I did.
For the combined.

I knew that I could for sure be

top five, and I was
hoping for a top three.

So, yes.

- I was with the
Austrian ski team,

and we had an athlete

that normally should
have won the combined.

Her name was Anita Wachter.
She was third.

So when I had to do an interview
after the race,

the journalist said, So you
guys lost a silver medal today?

And I said, no, no, no.

We won the bronze.

And the journalist said, no,

you lost a silver medal
because of Picabo.

(crowd cheers)
- Woo-hoo!

- And this was actually the
first time my ears went up

and said, Okay, who is she?

When you're coaching,
when you're connoisseur

of the whole thing, you look at
different techniques of skiing.

And one thing that caught
my attention was a skill set

that Picabo had. We
call it gliding

in a very low tuck and being
very fast in flat sections.

And that's a big thing
that speed limits.

When you drive 80 miles an hour.

Open up the window and put your

hand out the window, and you're
going to go, almost lost my arm.

It gives you a pretty good
feeling how the air is

a resistance and also
makes noise.

And a lot of athletes
at that level can hear

the noise, and they adjust their
body position very clearly.

- She could generate
speed by just

gliding on the snow that nobody
else we've ever seen do.

[Picabo] I went in the
scientific wind

tunnel that they use
to measure our aerodynamics.

- With the hands and the arms

you've got to come out there.

[Picabo] I spent 35 minutes
with the guy

on different kinds of stances
and positions, trying to figure

out which one was
the best for me.

And my legs got tired,
and I just kind of relaxed

into this really low,
comfortable position.

My drag dropped three points.

We both looked at each other

and smiled like,
oh, my goodness,

we just found a little edge
that no one will ever have it.

[Announcer] Welcome to Norway.

Where once again,
Winter Games will be played.

Only now there will be cheering

crowds, and all
the world will see.

- We were just thrilled that she
had made the Olympic team.

She was in high 20's.

30 result skier,
which at that point,

you're the 30th best
skier on the planet.

That's pretty impressive.

- I remember being beside myself
to go to the first Olympics.

This is the real deal.

We are super far away from home,

meeting all the other athletes
and getting in your uniform and

finally getting something
that says USA in letters

that you're going to put on your
back like, oh, my goodness.

[Announcer] Welcome
United States of America.

- It's like, it's happening!
This is real.

(crowd cheering)

(crowd cheering)

[Announcer] More than
170,000 race fans

have made their way to Norway's
white Mountain, Kvitfjell.

They have created
an unparalleled festive

atmosphere under
bright, sunny sky.

- The interesting story
behind Lilyhammer

is the original course
they picked was on a different

mountain, and the top
part was relatively flat.

There was nobody on the planet

who could ski flats as
fast as Picabo.

German team is protesting.

Got to move this race

from the women's course
to the men's course.

- Olympic history will be made
here at Kvitfjell

in the downhill,
where for the first time ever,

the women will compete
on the same course as the men.

- It's a European sport,
and we were total underdogs.

(indistinct announcer)

What's gratifying is stay

focused and, frankly, beat the
Europeans at their own game.

[Announcer] Seizinger. There's
the leading time now by 1.24.

We're back at Kvitjfell, and
it's time for Picabo Street.

(Picabo singing)

- What are you listening to?
- Gabriella.

[Announcer]
Her thing is going fast,

and she's next
to chase Katja Seizinger

and her teammate, Hilary Lynn.

Picabo's parents,

who arrived a couple of days ago

here for the big moment.

(beep)

- All right, Peek. (indistinct)
Come on.

(beep)

(beep)

[Announcer] Aerodynamic
foil on top of her boot

so that she slides better

through the air down
here on the flat.

Now, Picabo is known
for being a great glider.

She has a very fine
feel for the snow.

Let the speed run over it well,
and it's so amazing.

I mean, a year ago
at this time, Picabo Street,

nobody would have
known her name.

And she went to
medal in the decline

at the World's Championship
and ever since then

she's just gotten better
and better with every race.

[Picabo] I had someone ask me,
what is it about skiing for you?

And I said, it's the speed.

Your skis are kind of like your

race car, but you're driving
it from a real raw place.

It doesn't get much more intense

than that as far as being
in that danger element.

Control over that amount

of speed and those aggressive
of physical movements

and that many G-Forces in a turn
that are solely created by me.

(crowd cheers)

[Announcer] One more turn
to the final.

Into the finish area.

(indistinct)

Seventy miles an hour to the
finish line for Picabo Street.

Into second place.

(cheering)

(upbeat music)

For Picabo Street, in her first
Olympics, Silver was great.

- I expected a medal.

I wanted myself to ski well
enough to get a medal,

but I was going to settle for a
top five, so I still

came home with the medal.
That's excellent.

* *

[Announcer] Number two,
Picabo Street!

[Picabo] The whole
idea that I actually

did it and my dream came true.

Sometimes I still have to pick
the medal up and actually get it

in my hand to believe
that it really happened.

And then all the memories flow.

The thing that it's created

for me is a bright spot
in my life that I have to look

at and remember and
to brighten my day.

* *

[Announcer] The winner
of the silver medal.

(foreign language)

Picabo Street.

(foreign language)

(cheering)

(crowd singing)

[Picabo] It was all really
really super cool,

except for one moment.

The wrong (bleep) flag went
up the center.

It was not our flag.

I was a silver medalist.

So as I watched them go up...
- Oh, yeah.

- I'm watching mine.

I'm not hearing my anthem.

I'm seeing my flag,
but I'm not hearing my anthem.

So it's this moment of like,

I will never step back on this

stage again and hear
someone else's anthem.

(indistinct chatter)

My whole family and I just took

a big (sighs) sigh, like,
okay, we did it.

Everything that we ever thought

we could do, and as far as
we thought we could make it,

we were right.

- And we are most pleased to be
joined now by Picabo Street.

Newly Crown silver medalist
in ladies downhill.

Congratulations to you.
- Thank you.

(crowd cheers)

- It was the warrior came
home with the victory.

- Picabo, can I get my picture
taken with you?

- Sure!
- Alright.

[Picabo] The top of
my list for things

I'm aiming at,
being a role model

now and what not, I'm aiming
to the children,

more so than anything.
I get such a pleasure out

of being around the kids
and seeing what I mean to them.

- She couldn't just walk through

the airport anymore
without being recognized.

(cheering)

[Announcer]
Downhill silver medalist

Picabo Street arrived
in Salt Lake City.

- Her winning and her
success made

the family successful
and gave opportunities.

Even at 21 years old, that's
a lot on someone's shoulders.

- Picabo, we're thinking about
making you a Gladiator.

How about that?

- Well, I got to win some
more medals first.

Elmo.

I didn't win a medal
for playing Picabo.

- No?

- And we've named
a street after you.

You have your own street.

And there's...

(clapping)

[Picabo]
My dad gave me a sweater,

and he bought me in Glamor,
and I wore it.

And I remember feeling really
stoked to be, like,

honoring Norway and honoring the
Olympics and honoring my dad.

And

he was my Superman and my all
in advocate and the person

who believed in me the most
and did the most for me.

But he was also
the biggest distraction.

I think he honestly spent his

entire adult life in denial
that he had diabetes.

There was a point in time when

he was manageable as
a diabetic, right?

I'd catch him, he'd be like,
I'd come home,

and he'd be on the couch
with the remote like this.

- But if I said, hey, dad,
you need to get a drink.

Then here came the combative,

oh, you just, you just...

you just, you know,

mess with me, leave me alone.

And those times would escalate,

and you get into
situations where

it can get physical.

And we had that, too.

We had domestic violence.

[Picabo] He had kicked
my mom so hard

in the shoulder up against
the cabin that he separated her

cartilage off her sternum

and broke a rib.

I headed home to be the referee

and be in the middle
of my family dynamics again.

The pressure on us as a family
to try and maintain our

composure, for me to
keep our big secret secret,

and for all these corporations
are going,

We love you.
You're this great all American

family, and we want
to support you.

And so here I am all along,
trying to make the show

with my skiing and be this
positive, like all American.

And I'm fighting
to get this done.

And I'm representing,
and you can, too.

And it doesn't matter
where you came from.

And all the while, I'm like...

And you just keep fighting and
grinding and struggling through.

Climbing that next mountain,
looking for that next view.

(indistinct announcer)

[Announcer]
Silver in the Olympics,

but never a World Cup winner.
Picabo Street has been

a threat to fix
that every time out.

World Cup win seems
only a matter of time.

(upbeat music)

[Picabo] I don't know why,
but it seemed to me like a lot

of times Americans would rise
out of nowhere,

win an Olympic medal, and then
fall back into nowhere again.

(indistinct announcer)

- The fact that I walked away
from a beater like that without

getting hurt was something
that was pretty significant

to me, that, believe it or not,
gave me a lot of confidence.

And that was kind

of the confidence I needed
to go into the season.

And I just built from there.

I never set out to be a flash
in the pan in the sport.

And what the Olympics did for me

is proved to me that no matter
how intense the level

of competition you throw at me,
I'm ready for it.

(upbeat music)

[Announcer[ Street was
skiing against 1:41:51

and she didn't just beat it,
she destroyed it.

And so the day belonged

to Street, her first
ever World Cup win.

Street's margin of victory
in skiing terms was huge.

- I'm extremely happy, I can't

explain how happy
I am right now.

- When you win in Europe

for the first time,
you are a superstar.

You're just looked
upon differently.

- We went from showing

that there's huge potential
to full on, very quick.

- In sports,
Olympian Picabo Street is

making skiing
history this season.

Racing in Austria,
Street won her third straight

World Cup downhill, something
no American has ever done.

She has now won four downhills
this year. That is one more than

any American, male or
female, has ever won.

(indistinct announcer)

(upbeat music)

- With two races remaining,

Street is first in the World Cup
downhill standings.

No American has ever
won the downhill title.

[Picabo] We sat down that night
in Ernst goes

the deal is you're leading

the downhill standings by so far
that if you finish the top three

tomorrow, you'll win
the downhill title tomorrow.

And I was like, wow!

(crowd cheering)

(announcer speaking
in foreign language)

(announcer speaking
in foreign language)

- It was the first time
ever that the

US won the overall
title in downhill.

(announcer speaking
in foreign language)

[Picabo]
Standing on that top step,

receiving that globe like it's
the most comfortable zone I've

been in, because that's
a day in, day out grind.

There's no,

That was a flash in the pan.
That was a fluke.

Nothing. There's no writing
that off.

(announcer speaking
in foreign language)

- I'm really happy
with the whole season.

I wasn't able to continue

at quite that high level,
winning every race like

Picabo, but I was consistently
in there every single race,

and I think it's
ended on a good note.

- It's incredible.

I've been around for a long

time, so it's not
that easy to get.

That's an incredible

accomplishment
for American skiing.

- When they handed that thing

to me, it was
one of the more unexpected

and gratifying moments
in skiing for me.

But what I realized,
as many competitors do,

once you win one,
you want another one.

It's addicting.

(laughter)

Oh, I'm not crying.
No way.

Just the downhill title. Ha!

I cried like a baby when they
put that thing in my hand.

(indistinct chatter)

- We were the team to beat
and to drive into every one

of these resorts and show
up and be the team to beat.

The Americans hadn't felt like

that for 15 years,
so that was a big change.

[Announcer] Picabo Street
from Sun Valley, Idaho.

- Olympic silver medalist

Picabo Street has a winning
personality to go with her

winning streak.
And what a streak.

You and Hilary Lynn.

I mean, did you win every single
race but one downhill this year?

- Yeah, we did.
It was an interesting year

for sure, for the Europeans
to be chasing the Americans

for the first time ever.

(cheering)

I feel awesome about what I've

just done, and believe it or
not, it's made me more hungry.

If you can leave it to win more.
I'm such a pig.

I can't get enough,
but I'm into it.

I'm liking winning,
and I'm going to continue.

- I have a letter from

Mr. Bill Clinton
in the White House,

our President of the United
States. Miss Picabo Street.

- Finally!
(laughter)

- Dear Picabo, your exceptional
talent and your winning attitude

have captured the hearts
of Americans and earned

the admiration of athletes
around the globe.

(clapping)

- Now, my message to the kids,
get out and free ski and let

this mountain turn you
into the skier that you can be.

Because it will.

The feeling of flying on your
boards with 7,000 pounds of

G-Force on your leg and you're
just making the fattest arc

and there's no snow coming off
your edge and, you know,

you're just smoking and it's
like, that's the feeling.

It's the scheme feeling that you
know and you yearn for.

And when you feel it, there's
nothing better in the world.

There is nothing that's
tops a flat ski arc.

(laughter and applause)

- You changed the game as far as
getting sponsors,

being in the media in that way,
you put skiing on the map.

You are the reason why I did
all the things that I did.

Business too.

You transcended skiing.

- I remember being really
proud to be a Nike athlete.

I was their first
winter athlete, period.

The wind howls because it
knows it has to race me.

I have my own shoe,
which I still have some.

- I remember being like,
Holy (bleep)

A ski racer has a freaking shoe.

That for me was like,
this is what's possible.

- Yeah.

- Like you raised the glass
ceiling by a thousand.

- Do we out our GS skis
in the cargo again?

- GS skis in the cargo.

- My mom and dad didn't come
watch me race a lot,

so when they did

come to watch me race,
it was really special.

And I remember my mom
coming over to Europe.

The chamois hang out
up there on the rocks.

- Yeah.
- In the sun, in the morning.

- There is a big portion of her

life that she grew up
on the road away from mom.

She went from a girl to a woman
on her own in a hotel room.

So the moments that they had to
come together, they cherished.

- Good morning.
- Morning.

- That's a ski.
- I'm a beginner.

(laughter)

* Little darling *

* It's been a long cold *

* lonely winter *

* Little darling *

* It seems like years
since it's been clear *

* Ohhh *

* Here come the sun *

- This is so gorgeous

and dramatic.

- Rocks! Big rocks.

- It's nice having
your mom here.

Is that an inspiration?

- Oh, yeah, totally.
She hasn't ever been

to a European race before,
so it's fun for me to know

that she's getting
to see it over here.

She's getting to see

the whole European scene and how
big of a deal it is here.

- That's great.

- Plus, it's nice for
her to meet

all the people here that I know
and that I talk about all

the time that are all my friends
and the people in my life

for eight months
out of the year.

(calm music)

- We've conquered the Castle,

we kicked the Austrians and the
Germans and the Italians off.

They are angry.

What we got to do now is we got

to come up with a plan
to stay at the top.

- You just have to stand on it
where everybody said to you,

It's not like you're going
to get thrown all around.

The ice patches
are not that bad.

- Defending the spot is tough.

The visualizing of where we
want to go is very important.

The dream to be there.

I always had the
feeling that Picabo

very nicely reacted
to images like this.

(calm music)

[Announcer] Picabo Street

came to Sierra Nevada with only
one thing in her mind.

The gold medal in her favorite
discipline, the downhill.

Over a second
ahead of anybody else.

And Street, who is
a real gliding machine.

Her own unique style
slicing through the air.

(announcer speaking
in foreign language)

(yelling indistinctly)

(cheering)

[Announcer] Picabo Street had
a massive advantage.

Point 65 on a second.

(Picabo screaming)

- I'm the guy that, I over
amp, just like that.

So I can take her too far.

Where Baba can mellow her out.

- Did you hear dad yelling
when you got to the finish?

- Yeah, I did.
He was the first person I heard.

I turn around and
he's going, yeah.

I'm like, Hi, dad.

- What were you thinking about

when you were
going off the jump?

- Well, I'll tell you what.

Looking at the ground
way down there.

I went, oh, my God.

I caught so much air.
Holy.

And then I was like, okay,
get back in the course.

Get back in the course.
- I love it.

I don't get to see a race a lot,

but on TV and you
can smell it and hear it here.

Like, car racing stuff.

(whistling)

(indistinct announcer)

- To win.
What was it?

Two overall titles?

Back to back.

That is...

That's big time.

* Picabo knows what to do *

* She's a downhill pilot *

* And a snow girl runner *

* Picabo gonna get you *

- I remember working with some

graphics people at Nike on a
commercial called Sister Slope.

And she was this, like, cartoon
animated character of me.

Oh, she was so rad.

Long hair, great long legs,
purple downhill suit.

* *

They were supposed to release it

for that next season,
but I blew my knee out.

[News Broadcaster]
Picabo tore ligaments

and cartilage in her left knee
when she crashed during

a practice run in Vail,
Colorado.

Street is not expected to ski
again for at least six months.

[Picabo]
I had tasted that success.

I had won those races.
I had won the title.

And it was like, dangle dangle.
- The downhill title.

The World Championships.
- Exactly.

And so here's...
- The Olympics.

- Here's another year
of smoking everybody.

But nope. Instead, we're going
to sideline you for a second.

[News Broadcaster]
So like many skiers before her,

Picabo was wheeled
into the operating room of

Dr. Richard Steadman.

One of the best knee
surgeons in the world.

But unlike other skiers,

Picabo insisted she'd be
awake for the entire operation.

- What were you
doing with that?

(indistinct)

- Okay.

I talked to him a lot during.
I was asking him a lot

of questions, and it was very
interesting and it seemed

very difficult.
And he's very good at it.

- Who's driving that thing?

- It's not me!
(laughter)

Yee-haw!

Fixed up.
Ready to go.

- I'm Jake Shores.

I am a chiropractor that's
trained in neurology.

So she first injured her left
ACL in '89,

and then she did it again in
1996.

The fact that she did the same
thing twice

makes the surgery more
difficult,

the recovery more difficult.

And then most of the
time you're gonna have

a greater decrease in function

because of the compromise of the
joint.

- She tore the medial collateral
ligament,

which keeps the knee from going
this way.

She tore a back corner
ligament in this area,

which protects in this
direction.

She stressed this ligament

and then she also bruised the
bone

in the back of the joint.

And then actually had a
small compression fracture

of the bone in this area
when the knee went like that.

So it was an extensive injury.

- That's why you needed a little
more room

in that canal was to get that
piece of bone through there.

- To get it through just right.
- Before you screwed it on.

Little fat little screws.

- Five, four, three, two, one.

Relax. Good.

(Picabo exhaling shakily)

- [Doctor] What's that?

- [Picabo] I'm trying really
hard.

- [Doctor] I know you are.

- From my perspective,

it doesn't seem like it changed
anything,

but you didn't question
what you were doing

or where you were going,

or if you were gonna make
the Olympics from that point?

- No, there wasn't a question at
all.

It was like, how,

pardon my French, but how
(bleep) long

is this break gonna take 'cause
I didn't order this breakup.

(wind howling)

- Back where we belong, huh?

- [Reporter] So Peek, how's the
road

from recovery been for you?

- It's been great, actually.

What it has done is let the
love of skiing resurface for me

and that's what I'm feeling
right now.

I think I was so excited
actually,

when I got to the top last
time that I literally puked.

The skiing feels absolutely
awesome.

Wind in my face, just,

just right.

The knee is perfect.

Working just like it's supposed
to.

It's just a little bit weak,
obviously,

because it's just needs some
more time.

(anticipatory music)

I mean, it was great to
be back on snow and all,

but definitely wasn't ready.

- [Newscaster] Street
has had several setbacks.

Picabo is still not ready
to join her teammates

and is getting away
from the media's glare.

Last week, she went off
to a secret location

for more training and more
rehab.

- The most intense training
that I had had going in

was in super G.

We were trying to emulate
downhill

and we were running real fast
super G

for two weeks straight in
Colorado.

- [Newscaster] Most observers
say Picabo

is simply running out of time

to be a serious threat in
Nagano.

- Sweden was the last
race before the Olympics.

The new-shaped ski was
what everybody was on,

but I couldn't get them figured.

In downhill, especially the
speed events

there has been a concern about
being able

to limit the speed of the
athletes

because our athletes today
are so much stronger,

they're better trained, in
the equipment is a lot better.

There is a concern about
building up too much speed.

(announcer speaking
indistinctly)

- With the opening of the
Winter Olympics in Nagano

now less than a week away,

America's Picabo Street
suffered a mild concussion

and some cuts and bruises,
but no serious injury

when she lost a ski and fell
yesterday

during a downhill run in Sweden.

- Usually the sooner
she calls after we know

that the race she's run,

the better chances are that
she's won,

and, boy, Dee and I were

fighting over each other
to the phone to, "Hello?"

And it's like, (breathing
heavily) "I'm all right."

- Ah, I broke juniors.

- "I broke my skis, dad. I broke
my skis."

And I'm going, "Then you're in
one piece?"

She's going, "Yeah, I've got
a little bit of dizziness

and my eye's quivering
and my neck is sore."

And I'm going "Well, hang in
there,

we'll get you home and patch you
up

and we'll get to Nagano."

(stately brass music)

- [Announcer] And the Olympic
torch

has been winding through Japan,

visiting every part of the
country

on its way to the Olympic
stadium.

In the end, it'll have
touched over 6,600 hands

on the way to the Olympic
cauldron.

50,000 people are expected to
gather here

for this opening ceremony.

Ancient religious rituals
mixed with modern technology

blending together in a songful
prayer

of hope for the 21st century.

The United States is next.

(crowd cheering)
(bells jangling)

Led by flag bearer Eric Flaim.

- Did you know, the team
voted me to carry the flag

in the opening ceremonies?

- But you didn't?
- I won that popularity.

That was like such-
- That's huge.

- A big moment in my life
as an Olympic athlete.

I was like, (gasping)

but I said, "I can't do it.

I'm hurt. And I need rehab
and I can't go early."

(slowly building triumphant
music)

(jet engines roaring)

- Was she 100% at the Games in
Nagano?

That you normally have
with an athlete? No.

- [Announcer] They're the
best in super G this season.

Seizinger of Germany,

Ertl of Germany,

along with the Austrian Geotschl

and Isolde Kostner, always
dangerous from Italy.

Picabo Street way down on the
pack

where she skied only four

of the six super G's so far this
year.

(skiers chattering)
(radio squawking indistinctly)

- We did something really
outside the box that day

where after we inspected
the course in the morning,

I saw it was a very
straightforward course set

that they normally don't have in
super G

because the core setter was a
Russian

and one of his athletes had
a huge chance to win a medal.

So he set a course that
was basically straight.

I spoke with my coach and said,

"Pull out the downhill skis

and give it a shot because
they were no turns."

(radio chatter in foreign
language)

- [Coach] Okay.

- Gather all my stuff, out
the door to the ski room.

I get to the ski room,

and my downhill training skis
are outside the ski room.

And I'm like, "Wait a minute."

- And then I spoke with
Picabo and I said to Peek,

"We're gonna let you go on
the downhills skis today.

What do you think?"

And she said, "Whatever you
say."

And when you have trust with
an athlete, it's really cool.

[Announcer] It will
be a smooth track for her.

A possibility it'll get faster
by the time Seizinger runs

because it's sunny out there

and a glaze might form on the
track.

(horn blaring)
- Go, go, go, go, go!

- [Announcer] And
America's Picabo Street.

She's never won in super
giant slalom before,

but she said at a press release
prior today's competition

she's really desperate
to do well in this event

as part of her preparation
to take the downhill title

of the Olympic Games away

from Germany's Katja Seizinger,
very much her archrival.

- She's had
only seven races this year,

coming back from the knee
injury of December '96

and a crash at Are, Sweden last
week.

- This is where she excels.

She's got a natural
ability to work the terrain

beneath her skis while
in a tucked position.

She just feels the snow.

(muffled crowd exclaiming)

There's that first jump, goes
back,

and she gets through it a little
bit wide.

That's gonna cost her, Tim.

[Announcer] She's getting
bounced around on the hairpin.

Sun Terrace hairpin.

Now a series of tight technical
turns.

Getting good pressure
against the turning ski,

nice and high and early.

This is good skiing from Street.

- Picabo Street, in early
trouble,

now flying over this top.

- Using her downhill skills

to good effect off these
rollers.

These jumps throwing
the skier into the air.

Street, never better than
eleventh on the World Cup tour,

but the Olympic Games is
a special temperament.

A special psych is required.

And look at the margin.

1.14 seconds faster than
Ingeborg Helen Marken

Picabo Street has had a flyer.

- When she popped that
run, nobody ever said,

"We've got the gold now."

It's hold your breath until
the last girl crosses the line

and then for sure.

- This is Michaela Dorfmeister,

a 25-year-old from Neuchatel,
Austria.

Here she is, racing for gold
in the Olympics super G.

- A beautiful flight.

She stays in her tuck all the
way through.

No, this woman is not your
average Austrian hausfrau.

- There is the time to beat
Dorfmeister

over the final jump.

One one hundredth behind.

Dorfmeister, she's in the second
place

and she nearly got into first.

But it will be gold for Picabo
Street.

[Woman] Yeah, Peeky!

- Her first ever victory in a
super G race

for Picabo Street, and it is
Olympic gold.

- Mom? Hi, mom.

Mom, I won.

(laughs) Thank you.

Thanks, Mom. I miss you.

I wish you were here.

(laughs) It's okay, I'm
gonna win more than one, mom.

I'm gonna bring them both
to Maui, okay? (laughs)

(man speaking in foreign
language)

I love you too. Wanna talk to
dad?

- That snow will kick your ass.

- That will kick us both, dad.

Great, did you talk to mom?

- Yeah, mom knows.

(gentle music)

- What a day.
- What a day.

It's a dream come true for me

It's something that everyone
dreams of all their life

when they're an athlete.

And for me, it's been
such a difficult season.

I've had so many ups and so many
downs.

It's been really long, you know?

It's been a long time
that I've been waiting

to get back into form to be able

to attack the course all out.

- If it was me, I would've cried
now.

- I've already cried and
stopped and cried and stopped.

So it's been very emotional.

[Announcer] And in second
place, Michaela Dorfmeister.

(gentle inspirational music)

[Announcer] Medals will be
presented

by Mr. John Claude Killy
IOC member in France,

downhill, giant slalom

and special slalom gold
medalist in Grenoble in 1968.

Olympic champion and gold
medalist Picabo Street,

United States of America.

(crowd cheering)

- When John Clark puts
the metal around my neck,

he knew he had crushed me,
right.

He knew it. And he said,

your father told me we're gonna
do

this when you were a kid.

I'm so proud of you and
I'm so glad to be here

so honored, so honored to
be here, to give you this.

(crowd cheering)

(gentle inspirational music)

("The Star-Spangled Banner"
playing)

So I started singing there,

I'm dumb and I'm crying
and singing in the hall.

It's just like the culmination
of

everything coming together

in one shot it's magical,

you feel like a rock star,

you're crying because
the joy in your belly

is so beyond anything
you thought it would ever

be and you thought it would be

the most wonderful thing ever,

and it's better than that.

(crowd applauding)

[Announcer] Congratulations
to these Olympic champions.

(gentle spirited music)

[Picabo] The night
after I won my gold medal

that was a super fun night

and the next day was like a
twilight zone.

My dad had ended up
MIA for a little while,

and so he kind of spun and
did his usual deviation of,

"oh, let me just blow myself off

and not take care of myself."

- We went out and partying.

We got home and I'm going,

"God, you can't get food out.

I don't want to hear about it,"
whoa.

And then Baba pushed
her button and (bleep)

(mumbling)

and he went up to cool it and
went to bed.

[Picabo] I remember him
coming back to the house

you know I said, "where were
you?"

And he's like, "oh, just out for
a walk."

He had run into Tim Layden,
a sports illustrated writer.

Do I need to worry about that
one?

Maybe.

Needless to say was pretty
distracting.

Definitely, the closest we had
come

to the elephant in the room
being

seen and our secret coming out,

and I didn't have a lot
of gusto after that for,

you know getting feisty on the
hill.

- This is the first Olympic
winter where

all of the Alpine skiing
events have been rescheduled.

The erratic weather has
stopped them from skiing

five out of the past eight
days but today finally,

they're able to ski.

[Announcer] The ladies'
downhill.

(crowd cheering)

(air horn blowing)

(air horn blowing)

(crowd cheering)

(announcers chattering)

(calm suspenseful music)

[Commentator] Feather
soft touch on the snow.

- She is almost just too behind.

- And she too
gets thrown a little bit wide,

but you can see there's just
there's room to move on this

course. I don't think that a
perfect line

is gonna be essential today.

You've gotta just let the
skis run and attack the course

and Picabo sure did that.

- That is great split time on
2.05,

she is only 5.100, she's
picked up a little here.

- We didn't walk away with two.

So it's a disappointment for me,

normally should be a
disappointment for Picabo too.

It's a disappointment
for the coaching staff

because we'd lost the focus.

[Interviewer] What
does having a gold medal

in your hip pocket before

you do the downhill, do to
your frame of mind in downhill?

- Well it's tough, it's really
tough because I think there,

there probably would have been
more hunger surfacing in me,

but I try and look at the big
picture all the time and not

get too caught up in the little
picture.

And the big picture is maybe
I would have risked too much

and hurt myself again today.

If I had been that hungry and
not had won that gold medal

already the super G's.

I lost my downhill ski
on a couple of turns

and that scary, you know,
I actually screamed.

I'm just glad to be standing
down

here talking to you one piece.

I didn't want to hit
the fence again today.

So I skied a bit tentative

and you just can't do
that with this field.

They're too good.

It's amazing how our greatest
moments can

like they can crush us, like
that was a crushing one.

- The whole emotional
power that Picabo had

was kind of empty after
she won the gold medal

and we had to finish the season.

We had new skis, new equipment.

- I had blown off racing

on the shape skis before Nagano

'cause I wasn't familiar with

them and didn't like them.

So I went for it in the Crans.

- American Olympic skiing
champion Picabo Street is

spending Friday the 13th in
a hospital in Switzerland,

Street fell today in the last
world cup

downhill race of the season
and broke her left leg.

Her doctor said, it'll be many
months now

before she skis again.

(Picabo wailing in pain)

- I couldn't feel my body.

I couldn't feel my legs
and I was really scared

I was paralyzed, and I rolled
over and everything came with

me and I was so happy that
everything moved with me,

but then the pain set in.

It's crazy, it was the best
and the worst year of my life,

I laid in the hospital
and was just lost really

for several days going, "what is
going on?

What is it just happened to me?"

And it's always kind of in
this pattern in my life,

whenever anything really good
happens.

I need to just start holding
my breath because I know a

disaster is right around the
corner

so that it can stay balanced.

- What was it like to go
from the extreme of winning

the Olympics to being there
with their leg broken in Crans?

(Picabo chuckles)

- It was a very, very dramatic
transition

that produced depression
and I closed everything up

and I just wanted to stay home.

I couldn't get up and go
anywhere and I didn't want to,

you know, my legs couldn't
carry me anywhere.

- She fractured her left femur,

which is the hardest bone
in your body to break.

And this time she injured
the lateral meniscus

of a right knee.

They went in and fixed it and
surgically

adhered it with plates.

However you do that knowing
that in a few months,

they're gonna go back in,

cut you back open to pull the
plate out

and then you have to rehab all
over again.

- I'd just catch myself crying.

and then it all pours in as to
why?

And it's different things all
the way

from those little things
that I said before,

like "oh my, my legs are getting
small

they're atrophying right
underneath me"

to, "oh you know how am
I gonna get out of this?"

To, "gosh do I even want to ski
anymore?"

I mean, it's heavy this time.

[News Broadcaster] In the speed
events, downhill

and super-G, Picabo Street is

the greatest North American
male or female ever to race.

And she has paid a physical
and emotional price.

Note that no other US
skiers are in the top five.

A two time Olympic medalist,

two-time World Cup downhill
champ, and World Champion.

Street has nothing left to
prove.

(soft music)

- Does it hurt, physically
hurt again when you watch it?

- It hurts my heart.

It hurts my stomach, my
soul, you know, deep inside.

Like the part that drives
me, it hurts that part.

And that has never been touched
before.

(soft music)

- And that thing that got me out
of it was

actually Mother's Day came.

And I hadn't been out of
my room in quite some time.

And I thought, maybe I'll go
wish my mom

a Happy Mother's Day in the
kitchen today.

It's really far away, but
I think I can make it.

And I had been interacting with
my mom

'cause I needed her help to
go to the freaking bathroom.

I'm an Olympic champion,
I'm a World Champion.

I still need my mom.

(crowd cheering)

It was just one slow step at a
time.

[Reporter]
Nike had about 600 girls

on-campus today.

And many of them were there
to get a peek at Picabo.

- Back at her first appearance

in Oregon today, since she
broke her leg in Switzerland.

- I've missed you guys, how have
you been?

Good?
- Good!

- Woo!

- When she hurt herself in 98,

dad and I were absolutely, and
mom,

adamant about, "Look, you need
to rehab,

and you need to come back with
the mindset

that you're gonna be a
world-class athlete again.

That way, even if you're not,

you at least will be able
to walk up and down stairs

for the rest of your life."

Because it was a very serious
injury that she went through.

(sensor buzzing)

[Reporter] Making light of

her injuries in a Nike ad

also helped Picabo turn the
corner.

[Picabo] When they
first proposed that to me,

I was like, "No!

I can not believe that you
guys wanna make fun of my legs.

I am insulted."

And then I kind of sat
and thought about it,

and I kind of digested it a
little bit.

And then I went, "You know what?

Maybe it would be exactly what I
need."

(audience applauding)

- For the International Olympic
Committee,

has decided

to award the organization of
the 19th Olympic winter games

in 2002 to the city of Salt Lake
City.

(crowd cheering)

- Towards the end of my
career, I started to gauge,

like, I knew nothing was gonna
top

the Olympics in Salt Lake.

Win, lose, or draw.

Like, come on!

The Olympics in front of
American crowd.

Boo yah!

Like, it doesn't get better, I
don't care.

- So many skiers, you know,
we had so many injuries,

and they get injured and
that's their last race.

It's nice to be able to
end on your own terms.

[Reporter] Now, after 20 months

of grueling rehabilitation,

Picabo is back on her skies,

and considering another Olympic
run.

- You gotta make Nationals.

Then you gotta make the Olympic
team.

It isn't like, "Oh, well
you won four years ago.

So we're automatically
gonna put you on the team."

No, she had to, she had
to go race in New Orleans

and Europe with tubs.

[Interviewer] You can't have
fear when you're going down

that mountain at 80 miles
an hour, not even an ounce.

- No, because it's the
mountain is like a dog.

It's going to smell that fear.

And it's going to get ya.

It's going to bite you.

I'll be ready probably by
November,

December to hit the fence
again, I'm not planning on it,

but I've got to be ready for
that.

If I want to get back.

- Throughout Peak's career, the
injuries that she sustained,

left her in a position
that as she is recovering

and training for the
salt lake games in 2002,

she's doing it on the knees
of someone who's probably in

their mid 60's to early 70's.

- And you have to be very
careful two work through the

comback to gain back the
trust to the equipment

that's within the mind of the
ski racer.

- Do I have the right to say I
don't want

to go if it's foggy?

- No

- No.

All right.

- From letting it loose
and really go full blast

and push the limit.

It, it all happens in the, in
the head.

It happens in the, in the brain.

- 10 seconds,

5,4,3

- Go, go, go, go

- The worst part about
it is packing your bags

and living out of them
and being away from all

the people that you really care
about.

You start to think about who,
you know,

who am I and what am I doing?

(audience cheering)

Am I stuck in this little world

of I'm a competitive athlete?

And that's what I'm all about.

And, and I'm not evolving as a
person.

- Three months, four months
of a year, and the same bag,

you know, when you're skiing
well,

yeah, it is glamorous,

but when you're skiing slow and
you're not performing, it's,

it's lonely on the road.

- So the training program's
getting juggled around and it's,

and it's getting specific,

whether or not to come to a
dry line camp now is a little

bit iffy and, you know,

sit next to the volleyball coach

and watch them play volleyball.

That kills me, you know,

but I show up anyway and
like today I'm not going to

water-ski cause I shouldn't,
I can, but I shouldn't.

So I'm gonna get in the water
and I'm just gonna run in

the water and get a good
workout.

Ooh.

Yeah.

Well we've brought obviously
some young girls up.

So Julia Mancuso and Lindsey
Kildow are our both very,

very good young skiers.

- When I was a little kid,

I wanted to be famous and I want
to be

the most decorated skier of all
time.

They want what I've gotten and
more.

And that to me is what I want to
see.

That's what I want to see
when I look in their eyes,

because I don't want to
walk away from the sport,

knowing that I set some
pretty big footsteps

that may not be stepped in.

- That winter, I just kind of
like, I, I was your shadow.

I don't know if you
remember that in a sermonic.

Do you remember the
camp that we had there?

And I, we were skiing super-G
and I said,

"what are you looking at in
inspection"

because I wanted to know
like what you're looking at.

And you said,

"I'm looking at the fall line."

And I said," how did you know,

how do you know where the fall
line is?"

And you said, "I can't tell
you, you just have to know"

- You knew though that's why,

cause you love the fall line
and you're in it all the time.

- I know.

But like, I remember that.

- Tamara said to me one time,

you're-- she didn't say
you were a disaster.

Like she didn't flat out
to me, but she said to me,

"she says, you have an
incredible fire.

And when you finally learn
how to channel it, right,

you're going to be unbeatable."

And I was like,

"what does that mean?

What do I do?

How do I do that?"

Like, yeah. Okay.

So that was our, that was that
exactly.

- Wow.

- At that point in your career,

I think you're just on
a different trajectory

and I wasn't sure like
what your mindset was.

- What?

- Take a picture

- Ooh yes
- Who?

- All together?

- We're going to go to
the, the, the stadium,

(crowd cheering)

[Announcer] Ladies and
gentlemen,

welcome to the opening ceremony
of

the 19th Olympic winter games.

(trumpets blowing)

(crowd cheering)

- Picabo Street, said she
probably would have retired,

had not the next Olympics
been in her home country.

So she's back for a last hurrah.

[Announcer] The Olympic
flame is now approaching

the stadium.

(crowd cheering)

Picabo Street and Cammi Granato.

(Crowd cheering)

- Proud members of

the Olympic team. Each a gold
medalist in Nagano.

Street is a skier, Granato is
captain of

the women's hockey team.

And soon the moment everyone
has been waiting for.

- I remember it being this
really methodical, euphoric,

almost like dreamy moment
of climbing up those stairs,

holding the torch.

[Reporter] Street and
Granato march by Mike Eruzione,

from the Miracle on
Ice hockey team of 1980

that won the gold medal.

[Picabo] It was so cool to be a
part

of such a beautiful moment for
our country

and for the Olympics.

[Announcer] Gold medal Hockey
team.

Team USA

(Crowd cheering)

(soft piano music)

[Picabo] In the back of my
mind, I'm thinking, you know,

that was-- that might've been my
show.

(calm music)

(calm music)

(calm music)

- I'm with Picabo Street,

just below the women's start at
the lodge,

and we're out of the public eye.

24 people going in front of you,
does it change the plan at all?

- It changes it a tiny bit.

Obviously, with the warm
weather, the delays,

it's bumped us back to noon
today.

We've got a pretty aggressive
line

we wanna run off the jump today.

And bottom line is, it's
a beautiful sunny day.

It's my last day out here, so.
I've been enjoying it so far,

and we'll see if I can
make it another good one.

(calm music)

[Woman On Radio] You
guys, the key to this course

is to attack, that's all there
is to it.

Get low in the traverse up there

and come down and just attack.

The snow is nice, it's goopy.

You just got to lay it over

and believe in yourselves.

Come on. There's no tricks. So
just go!

(calm music)

(calm music)

[Announcer] Carol Montillet,
France, still the leader,

followed by Kostner of
Italy, Goetschl of Austria,

and all three of those women,

know there's only one
serious contender left

who can drop into that medal
count.

And here she is, Picabo Street.

(Skis clacking)

(calm music)

- Go, Picabo!

(Dee whistles)

Go, Picabo! Come on, girl! Lets
see it!

- Come on Peek!
- All right Peek, come on!

[Coach] Good strong start now!
Come on!

[Time Keeper] 10 seconds!
[Teammate] Go Peek!

- Go girl!
- Come on Peek!

[Teammate] Burn it up
girl! Charge it! Come on! Go!

[Time Keeper] 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
(teammates cheering)

[Announcer] Pushed to
display all of her success,

this is the run of her life.

- And she truly believes

that she can do it, and
then she loves this course.

She feels like she owns
it. She skied well on it.

She's fastest up at the top.
This is where she truly excels.

Look at how wide her
stance is and her tuck.

She just drops way down

and lets her skis float above
the snow.

(inspiring music)

(inspiring music)

(crowd cheering)

(inspirational music)

[Announcer] Here's the
first jump over shooting star,

not too bad.

2/10 back however, so
that bobble up higher

has cost her time.

- It's still not too late,

there's some good turns.

She skied well down here
on the bottom in training.

She needs to get back
into her tuck though.

Looking a little tentative.

(inspirational music)

(inspirational music)

(crowd cheering)

(inspirational music)

(crowd cheering)

(cheering continues)

- But I have nothing but
admiration

for a stellar effort by
this Olympic champion who,

by all rights, shouldn't have
even been a contender here.

The greatest American downhiller
ever taking a final bow.

(crowd cheering)

- You won that rose, kid.

- I know. I know.

- And you'd win that
rose, you know what happened.

- Yep, it's all good.

- Yeah. You had
'em for a while, man.

It's good for ya. I'm
really proud of you, honey.

- Thanks Dad,
thanks for everything.

- You bet.

- No more 3 AM phone calls.
- Yeah!

[Announcer] So for Picabo,
there's no storybook finish

for the comeback girl.

But she's leaving ski racing,
having brought more attention

to her sport in the U S.
than anyone before her.

- Best day I've ever had

in my ski racing career, it's
all because of you, thank you.

[Announcer] Turns out,
everyone's rooting for this-

- Thanks to my mom and dad.

You guys have been great
throughout my whole career.

You've always supported
me and you've been there

waiting for that phone call
at 4 o'clock in the morning.

Now we won't have to wait
anymore. I'll be home baby.
Whoo!

And it's hard to explain to
people

that that was rewarding for me.

They're like, "What? You got you
16th."

And I'm like, yeah, all the
history,

all the water under the
bridge, all of the time,

all the effort, all of the,
you know, ups and downs.

It's like, there's more to it
than that time at the finish.

I just hugged Lindsey
Kildow. She's 17 years old,

first time in the Olympics,

getting the jitters out of her
system.

And you know, my team is good.
It's big and it's strong.

And I'm gonna really have a
fun time living vicariously

through them and watching them.

And, hopefully, I'll
be hugging them one day

after they've won a gold medal.

'Cause the feeling is
great when it happens.

- It was such a great Olympics.
- It was perfect, yeah.

- Yeah, it was such a great
games.

Way to represent by the way.

Top finish of the U.S. at those
games.

- I know, but everyone over...

Everyone was like, "Our team did
so bad.

We're going to pretend like
you didn't even do that."

So I got literally-
- Just made you more hungry.

- 'Cause you retired, and
I was, like, on the team.

- Ma, ma, mrr, mrr mrr. (Picabo
laughs)

- Yeah, and I was like, no one
even cares.

- They missed our baton
handoff, didn't they?

- I know! They're late to the
game.

- Picabo Street's retirement
was among the most prominent

storylines to come out
of the Winter Olympics.

- I feel so great. I
feel so relieved, Judy.

It's really been incredible.

I mean, the Olympic experience
has been wonderful for me.

And I've gotten to feel it

from all the different
perspectives

that you can feel it from.

I knew that I was gonna
need a couple of years

to find myself and
figure out what I wanted

to do with my life.

I knew I wanted to pay it
forward,

but in what form?

And then, what do I want for
me, personally, in my life?

(electronic music)

- You're so, like, you.

And you always say what's on
your mind,

and you have no filter, and
that's what I love about you.

Do you ever feel like you were
judged

kind of for being a rebel?
- Oh, yeah. All the time.

All the time.

I think you feel it always,
that people are judging you.

When you're growing up in the
spotlight,

I felt judged all along.

It magnified a whole lot
more about five years ago.

[Media Journalist]
Picabo called the cops

after her father, who's
diabetic,

became belligerent and confused

after his blood sugar
dropped to a dangerous level.

- As dad was getting older,
I think as time went on,

it was getting rawer and rawer

with this mismanagement of his
diabetes.

And so, Peek had become
a caretaker for them.

So they were living with her

and, you know, there's
a lot of frustration,

especially with mom and
Peek, he would get physical.

[Media Journalist] Picabo
says her father attacked her

by grabbing her hair.

- Two handfuls on either side of
my neck,

and I was, I started...

I put my hands on his chest
and he stumbled backwards.

- She says they both fell down
the stairs.

When she broke free, she called
911.

- Were you afraid your
father was going to hurt you?

- Oh, I was petrified.

- She called for help

because her father was in the
middle of a medical crisis.

And she ended up getting
arrested

when she did not deserve to at
all.

And it crushed her brand, her
impact,

and a lot of her spirit.

[News Host] Former Olympian was
charged

with one count of assault and
three counts

of domestic violence, all
of which are misdemeanors.

[Media Journalist] Both of
her parents signed affidavits

supporting their daughter.

Her father wrote, "The
entire episode was my fault.

And Picabo was only defending
herself."

- I can look at it like I
should've never called for help,

but we always called for help.

It was what we always did,
call for help for Dad.

[Media Journalist] Four weeks
ago,

the prosecution finally
dropped all charges.

- It kicked her the
curbs so fast, you know,

and all of our sponsorships
went away so fast

that it devastated her.

- They should not have arrested
Picabo.

[Media Journalist]
Picabo's lawyer, Joe Rona,

is adamant that prosecutors
and police rushed to judgment.

- They can destroy lives simply
by filing a criminal charge.

- I invited her to a golf
tournament.

I just thought she'd come in as
Picabo,

you know, own the room.

And I made eye contact
with her in the foyer,

and she wasn't coming in
until I went and got her.

And that just crushed me.

- It started when I was a little
girl

and got worse when he got
diabetes.

And then we found out that
he had early onset dementia

when we had our incident.

He doesn't remember what day it
was,

what time of day it was,
nothing.

He had so much remorse in the
last couple of years of his life

and I showed him so much grace.

The last time I saw him, he was
making potato salad

with these little teeny potatoes
he loved

and I said, "I gotta go get my
kids, Dad."

And he turned and said, "All
right, boo. I love you."

And I said, "I love you, too."

And I walked out.

And that's the last time I saw
him.

But I got the goodbye,

and I think that's
God's way of being like,

"You were there always."

You know?

Because this was such a
beautiful, insane,

intense relationship
that engulfed everything

and was magical.

Daxy, come on, honey!

It's an honor to care for a
parent.

And I care for my Mom every day.

It was an honor to care for my
Dad.

It was hard and scary and I
failed a lot,

but it makes such a
better person out of you.

(Picabo chuckling)

[Picabo] It's fun to try to go,

you get it, like right there.

- You're good, dude.

- Come on, get in here!

Ride with me!

(gentle music)

- There's this analogy that
my girlfriend said to me,

and it's, "When you become a
mom,

you are instantly tethered with
this sled,

and you're constantly pulling
the sled

whether all of the kids are
riding in it,

or none of them are riding in
it.

It doesn't matter, you're
still pulling it along."

It's such a warming, welcoming,
like forever feeling.

(soft music playing)

It's like nothing else on the
planet.

- Better than skiing?
- Oh my God, yeah.

Don't worry, if you bump me,

I'll just bump Trey and
he can go off the edge.

- Deal!

(soft music playing)

- What's the one thing that
you wish that people knew?

Like take down the hard
eggshell.

Like what's the one thing that
is like,

this is me that you don't know?

- You know, I think a lot of
people see me

as a lot harder and
tougher than I really am.

I feel like there's two
operating systems that we have.

We're either operating out of
love

or we're operating out of fear.

I don't think the hate
is the opposite of love.

I think fear is.

And it's like, I don't,

I don't want to be
stifled by that anymore.

[Picabo] You'd go noodling
where?

(man laughing)

- Down in there?
- Yeah!

- You would not!
- Yeah you would!

- No you wouldn't!
- Yeah I would!

- Are you serious?
- Easily!

- Come on! Would you? What would
you wear?

There's a Cherokee proverb of
like,

you have two wolves
that live inside of you

and one of them is super
kind and pumps you up

and makes you feel good.

And the other one's super
nasty and mean and evil.

And when the little grandson
asks the Cherokee grandpa,

"What wolf wins the battle?"

He says "The one you feed."

(soft music playing)

- The button? Which one?

Yeah! You got it!

- And grab this.

(soft music playing)

- You look great!

- Thank you.

(soft music playing)

- I deal with that same
battle that everybody does

all day, every day.

What's the story you're telling
yourself?

It's a beautiful thing to be raw
and real

and human and going through it.

Not...
- You taught me that.

- Not trying to hide from it

and be something you're not,
right?

- Well, that's what you taught
me.

Then that allowed me to do the
same thing.

- Good.

Yay.

- Nuh-uh!

Linds!

- Yeah. This is in my bedroom.

Not awkward at all, I'm 36 years
old.

(Picabo laughing)

- But

- That's a cool poster!

- Team Street.
- Team Street!

- Yep.
- Linds...

- "Follow your dreams! "I did.
- Yeah, you did.

- So thank you.

- Yeah.

(instrumental music playing)

- Follow in your footsteps in
that way.

Like you, you know,

inspired me and I try to inspire
others

and I hope the next
generation does the same.

- Pay it forward.

- But you know,

I think what you're doing with
your academy is incredible.

- That's funny. It's so cool.

- What drove you to start that?

- I was lucky to be one of
the early ones on the ski team

when they had a strong
development program.

- Yeah.

- And we were doing school
on the road and it was tough.

I struggled and I want
other people to not run

into that situation and
not feel unprepared.

* Later I'd watch you and
wonder what it was like *

* How do you bear the full
weight? *

* How does the long way feel? *

* Kneading your hand too
tight against the wheel? *

* How do you stay
in that tower? *

* How do you reckon your own
power? *

* How does the wheel not
turn hour on hour on hour? *

* I was trying to find my way *

* I was thinking my mind was
made *

* But you were making
my heart change shape *

* It's all that I could take *

* I was trying to find my way *