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Street hoping to tote the flag
Honor would be the pinnacle of brilliant career
By Scott Taylor
Deseret News sports editor
During the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics, many Americans will be wearing their patriotism on their sleeve. Three-time Olympian Picabo Street — the daring darling of the U.S. Ski Team — will wear hers on her head — and hopes to carry it in her hands.
The self-admitted "speed freak" on skis is looking to capture a third medal in as many Winter Games. What she would like to recapture is being selected as the U.S. flagbearer for the opening ceremonies, leading Team USA as it parades into Rice-Eccles Stadium Friday night.
"It would be the greatest moment in my career — I'm that patriotic," said Street, who for several months has pitched herself to pack the flag.
Her latest "campaign stop" came at a news conference Tuesday morning at Nike's Salt Lake digs for the Olympics, with the Web-broadcast proceedings turning the session into a makeshift "Picabo Live."
Street as a flagbearer is nothing new. The women's downhill silver medalist at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics was selected to carry the U.S. flag in the opening ceremonies of the 1998 Nagano Games. But a crash in Are, Sweden, just days before the opening left Street black and blue — bruised as well as hurt that she had to withdraw from flag duty.
"I cried for three days," recalled Street, who later rallied to win the women's super-G gold in Nagano and further endear herself as one of America's most recognized winter Olympians.
As U.S. athletes arrive in Salt Lake City and go through team processing through the United States Olympic Committee, they are given a ballot-like paper for their recommendations on who should be the flagbearer.
Street knows she's a viable candidate, having won medals and having rebounded from two skiing accidents — the first between the '94 and '98 Games and more recently a career-threatening World Cup crash soon after the Nagano Games that put her 2002 participation in doubt.
She readily agrees there are other American athletes equally qualified for the honor, such as skeleton slider Jim Shea Jr., a third-generation Olympian whose grandfather — 91-year-old speedskating multi-medalist Jack Shea — was killed in a car accident last month.
Known for her eye-grabbing headgear on the slopes, Street gave her racing helmet for the 2002 Games to her graphic artist with the simple instructions to "make it as patriotic as possible." She will have an Internet-unveiling of the image this morning.
Street is well aware of the convergence of patriotism, participation and medal potential for not only her but her peers on the host-nation U.S. Olympic team.
"How many people in American need this right now — need this healing?" she asked. "And I can help give that to them."
And the stepped-up security in and around Salt Lake City for the Games — including the long lines for security checks — doesn't bother her.
"Fast, quick and easy is what got us in trouble with 9/11 (Sept. 11)," she said, adding that "the more F-16s I see flying around in the sky, the better I feel."
She's feeling better about returning to racing with near-reckless abandon in the alpine speed events. She faced fear for the first time following her horrific March 1998 crash that resulted in a broken left leg, a blown-out right knee and months of grueling rehab to ready herself for the Salt Lake Games.
"Having to replace fear with the task at hand was the hardest thing to do," she recalled. "Now when I ski, fear is not on my mind."
When she races Monday morning at Snowbasin in the women's downhill, she'll be replaying in her mind the three days of practice on the Olympic course called Wildflower — three days of focusing and refining on separate sections so she can "ski that bad-boy line."
Unless asked to fill in as a U.S. alternate in the women's super-G later, Street will make her final Olympic run Monday. Then she'll decide if she retires for good from competitive skiing and turn to other things — building a house, spending time with fiancé John Mulligan and planning a fall marriage in the color-changing aspen.
Street anticipates her return to Snowbasin as not only an event favorite but the last woman to win an international event on Wildflower.
"I'm ready to risk everything that is needed to be risked — there's no holding back," said the Park City resident, flashing her patented Picabo smile and later adding, "it's in my back yard."
E-MAIL: taylor@desnews.com
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February 6, 2002
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