Claws Come Out In Vancouver, Vonn and Mancuso Clash
Team USA is losing momentum as the second and final week of Olympic competition comes to a close. While they still lead in medals with 28, Germany is coming on strong with 24. But you won't find the U.S. women's alpine skiers doing any celebrating, they're too busy pointing fingers.
Just last week, Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso, the U.S. team's top women downhill skiers were sharing the spotlight on top of the podium in Whistler Village, having taken gold and silver respectively in the women's downhill. It was a glorious moment for both ladies, and we were all basking in the glow of their achievement. But even as I watched, eyes moist, as our two gorgeous ladies stood proudly accepting their medals, something seemed to be brewing.
Today, that rivalry came to a head and for those who've come to love both skiers, it's a sad turn of events. By a strange twist of fate, Vonn and Mancuso were scheduled to ski one after the other in today's giant slalom race. Conditions at Whistler deteriorated as fog and snow made visibility rough for the skiers. To combat the weather, officials made a controversial decision to send the skiers down in one minute intervals in an effort to get everyone in before conditions worsened.
Vonn's run had her ahead by .35 when her right hand got caught and threw her off balance and tumbling into the fence (she broke her pinky). Unaware of the crash, Mancuso was sent down on her run, in hopes of defending her gold medal in the same event in Turin. While she was slightly behind the lead time, she was gaining momentum and skiing well. Officials decided it was unsafe to have Mancuso continue without clearing Vonn from the run and gave her the yellow flag, stopping her mid-race.
Mancuso, confused, disoriented and out of her "zone" had to do a re-run and was unable to attain her earlier speed, either do to the worsening conditions or the mental strain of having to start over. Whatever the case, Julia was unhappy, leaving the course in tears, later tweeting her frustrations.
"That yellow flag in GS was such . . . just want to scream. I'm really miffed. ..."Continued on the next page
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