VANCOUVER, B.C. – Another Winter Olympics and Lindsey Jacobellis is still struggling to win a gold medal.
Years ago at the Winter Games in Turin, Italy, Jacobellis lost a sure gold medal when she started hot-dogging it and pulled an unnecessary move grabbing her board in a “method grab” and wiping out before coming home with
the silver medal.
Yesterday, Jacobellis of Stratton, Vt. Was disqualified from advancing to the women’s snowboard cross final after veering off the course in the semifinal round and hitting a course gate.
Still having to complete the run down the long course, Jacobellis performed another unnecessary maneuver on the last jump, grabbing the board with both hands to entertain the crowd with a “truck-driver grab.”
Frustrated and obviously disappointed, the snowboarder passed up on the opportunity to meet with the print media in the mixed zone but did attend a later news conference to comment.
“It’s definitely not the end of the world for me,” said Jacobellis. “It’s unfortunate that the rest of the world only sees this race and the one four years ago. I guess I don’t have a great track record with the general public.”
“My board just finally caught up, threw me in the direction of the panels. I was like, ‘Well, nothing you can do about it now.’ Sometimes you can’t control the things you want to. Sometimes I’m dominant, sometimes I fall into funks when things like that happen.”
Maelle Ricker, Canada, ended up taking the gold in the event and offered a comment about when she and Jacobellis were running tight just prior to the mishap.
“I don’t think we clipped boards,” said Ricker. “We were definitely really close right out of the start and I don’t know what happened to her. I don’t know where she went down. I just tried to stay on my line and focus what I was doing.”
Ricker who is the first Canadian woman to win an Olympic Gold Medal on Canadian turf, had a challenging journey full of adversity. During the Turin Winter Games, Ricker wiped out hard during the finals and was airlifted to a hospital after suffering a concussion.
“It’s just crazy,” said the Gold Medalist. “I’m pinching myself.”
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