sports, nflSome American Olympic ski fans have started calling Vancouver, “Vonncouver” after Lindsey Vonn won Gold in a fairytale story anyone following the 2010 Games for the past week heard about. Every four years there are stars born for each Olympic qualified country. They are the people who captivate us with their drive to succeed after coming back from injury, those who faced great odds qualifying for the Games or those have already been big winners and called the world’s best. Vonn dealt with injury but has always been considered one of the best downhill female skiers in the world. She does have teammates though.



Yesterday seen in the sports recap video above, Vonn crashed out in a slalom run, which ended up breaking her pinky. Still on the course, her teammate Julia Mancuso, who I had not heard squat about until this incident, was told to start her run. After flying through the slalom course almost all the way down in record time sports refs flew a yellow flag to restart because staff was still trying to get Vonn off the course. After the restart, Mancuso did not do so hot. This created a firestorm between the two that is all the buzz in sports news today.

Mancuso probably speaking for all the American women skiers outside the Olympic spotlight has been hammering home the point Vonn is not the only champion in women’s female skiing. While they are representing the same country, they are still competing against each other and I understand why she would be pissed. I can’t imagine how much energy it takes to maneuver back and forth through a sports slalom course. To blow all that energy in a super fast run before being told to restart and do it on a half empty tank is hardly fair. On the other side, we have seen bad calls or huge plays restarted after an unfortunate flag  in the NFL, NBA, NHL and every other big sport. It is part of the game.

With the Olympic Games coming to an end I don’t know if the animosity between the American female ski team is going to subside but I do hope it creates a larger fire for athletes like Mancuso to come back and finish her remaining runs at 110 percent. As for my most anticipated Olympic game, the U.S. hockey match against Finland and then hopefully Canada in the Championships. Now that is the perfect way to close out the 2010 Winter Olympics.