(Host) The mood at Stratton was a mix of pride and disappointment after Lindsey Jacobellis won the Olympic silver medal in the women’s “snowboardcross.”
The 20-year-old Stratton snowboarder was way ahead when an ill-fated grab near the finish line caused a fall that left her in second place.
VPR’s Susan Keese has more.
(Keese) Jacobellis and her family moved to Stratton from Connecticut when she was in eighth grade. They wanted to support her passion to become a champion.
Scott Palmer coached her at the Stratton Mountain School. He describes her as a competitive, driven athelete and role model.
(Palmer) “It’s too bad she’s going to take the blast from the media, because she’s not a showoff. She’s a very caring and methodical person in everything that she does.”
(Keese) Palmer says it’s natural that Jacobellis would want to add a flourish to what seemed to be a solid gold run.
(Palmer) “That was kind of normal for Lindsey to do when she was way out in front. You know it was the last air in the course and she decided to do a small trick, which was something she also did when she won the X Games. It’s called a grab. When you go in the air in a snow board, it’s not a trick unless you grab your board.”
(Keese) Palmer says he’s proud of Jacobellis’s silver medal. He also says that snow boarding isn’t just about winning. It’s about winning with style.
But people who know her say that Jacobellis isn’t a typical snowboarder. Gary Morrow owns the Winhall store at the foot of Stratton Mountain.
(Morrow) “She’s so quiet and demur and a lot of them just have that daredevil attitude, scrunge clothes and just – I don’t care. Lindsey you wouldn’t know she was a snowboarder if you saw her come in the store– she’s just nicely dressed, real pleasant, smiling, saying hello to everybody. It’s just not her character to show off like that. But it’s probably an adrenalin thing.”
(Keese) Jacobellis graduated from the Stratton Mountain School in 2003. School officials refer to her as a role model and say her former classmates are celebrating her victory.
But they’re also taking in the lesson that the race isn’t over until you cross the finish line.
For Vermont Public Radio, I’m Susan Keese.