I'm going to move on and discuss an underrated American Olympian who has been flying under the radar, but should really be considered the US's new Olympic darling.
I'm talking, of course, about Alpine Skiier Julia Mancuso.
Coming into these Olympics, all the talk in the US was about skiier Lindsay Vonn, and how amazing she was and how pretty she was, and how she could win 5 gold medals. The talk was definately deserved, since she had been dominating in the World Cup races and such. But no one was talking about Julia Mancuso.
Everyone was also talking about Lindsay Vonn's painful shin injury, and how it could hurt her chances here. And while, yes, this injury was painful, it was played up quite a bit. No one was really talking about the fact that Mancuso has had knee and hip injuries and endured a bad back so painful she did not post a top-three finish in a World Cup event in 2008 or 2009.
Needless to say, Julia came into these olympics completely hidden by the shadow of Lindsay Vonn.
Hopefully after today, she is starting to emerge.
Julia Mancuso, after getting a very unexpected Silver Medal in the Women's Downhill yesterday, won Silver in the Women's Alpine Combined event today. She is the only American so far with two Olympic medals...and she hasn't even competed in her best events yet!
From the wire...
Mancuso got the first U.S. medal in women's Olympic combined or super-combined since Gretchen Fraser's silver at the 1948 St. Moritz Games, and also became the fifth American woman to win two Alpine medals in the same Olympics.Mancuso's two silvers are already an amazing Olympics for a skiier who hasn't been in the public consciousness, and hadn't won a medal in any world event since 2007. Julia's best, though, may still be to come. She is the defending Olympic champion in the Giant Slalom. And after how she's competed so far in these Olympics, is anyone going to count her out to repeat? Or to possibly medal in the regular Slalom? I'm sure not going to.
And if she does indeed medal, she'll end up being one of the most decorated (if not the most decorated) American Olympian at these games. Either way, she's already the most decorated American Alpine skiier ever.
And she's totally cute to boot! I mean, cute, winning, and possibly setting American records for Alpine medals won...sounds like someone who should be the face of the US Olympic Team to me!
She is also a lot of fun! While Vonn spent Wednesday crying about winning an expected gold and talking about her injury, Julia was just enjoying the moment! After today's silver, she had this to say:
"It's really such a feeling of accomplishment," Mancuso said. "It's really all about believing. I have so many friends and family out there, and they're all going crazy. They make me want to dance around."They make me want to dance around! I mean, how can you not love that?
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