Picabo Street

Picabo Street profile,

Picabo Street (pronounced /ˈpiːkəbuː/; born April 3, 1971), is a former American alpine ski racer. She won gold medals in super G at the 1998 Winter Olympics and in downhill at 1996 World Championships, along with three other Olympic and World Championship medals. She also won World Cup downhill season titles in 1995 and 1996, the first American woman to do so, along with a total of 9 World Cup downhill race wins. Street was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 2004.

Early life

Street was born in Triumph, Idaho. She was raised on a small farm in Triumph, several miles southeast of Sun Valley, where she learned to ski and race. She attended Rowland Hall-St. Mark's School in Salt Lake City and participated in its ski academy, Rowmark, for one year before returning to Sun Valley to race for the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation. Before the academy, she was a member of the local Hailey Ski Team. 

Skiing career

Street first joined the U.S. Ski Team in 1989, at the age of 17. She primarily competed in the speed events of downhill and super G.

After her silver medal performance in the downhill at the 1994 Winter Olympics, a run was named after her at Sun Valley. On the Warm Springs side of Bald Mountain, the expert run formerly known as "Plaza" became "Picabo's Street." Street joined Christin Cooper and Gretchen Fraser as Sun Valley Olympic medalists (their named runs are on Seattle Ridge).

By winning the 1995 downhill title, she became the first American ever to win a World Cup season title in a speed event. Shortly after her gold medal win in the super G at the 1998 Winter Olympics, Street careened off course while racing in Switzerland. She crashed, snapping her left femur, and tearing a ligament in her right knee. She was in rehabilitation for two years following the accident.

Street returned to ski racing, and retired after the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Personal life

Street is now retired and splits her time between homes in Alabama and Park City, Utah. She has a son, Treyjan James Pawley, born in August 2004, with her former partner N. J. Pawley. On October 25, 2008, she married businessman John Reeser atop Prospect Mountain, near Hanceville, Alabama. On August 3, 2009, Picabo gave birth to her second son, Dax Meyer Street Reeser, in Birmingham. On ESPN's "College Game Day" September 25, 2010 Picabo stated that she was pregnant and expecting her fourth boy.

She names her skis mainly after people who are strong and mean a lot to her. Among them, she has her "Earnies" (after Dale Earnhardt) and her "Arnolds" (after Arnold Schwarzenegger).

She appeared on the TV shows Nickelodeon GUTS in 1994, and Pyramid (2002). She did very well on the show American Gladiators, where Street used her strength to defeat the gladiator character "Ice" in a couple of events. In the late 1990s, after her success at the 1998 Winter Olympics, Street became a spokeswoman for a variety of products, including the soft drink Mountain Dew and ChapStick-brand lip balm. She also appeared on Celebrity Paranormal Project.

She wrote an autobiography in 2001 titled Picabo: Nothing to Hide (ISBN 0-07-140693-X). In it, Street reveals the pressures placed on her by her sponsors to succeed and win, which she maintains contributed to her devastating 1998 crash. She also writes of how she was able to transform from a rebellious tomboy into a world-class athlete.

A feature film based on Street's life story is in development as of late 2009, written by Eric Preston with director Charles Winkler slated to direct, and produced by Jeff Luini and Richard Weiner. Filming will begin in 2010 in Argentina.

World Cup victories

Season titles

Season	Discipline
1995	Downhill
1996	Downhill

Podia

Season	Date	Location	Race	Place
1993	13-Mar-1993	Kvitfjell, Norway	Downhill	2nd
1995	09-Dec-1994	Lake Louise, AB, Canada	Downhill	1st
	11-Dec-1994	Lake Louise, AB, Canada	Super G	3rd
	14-Jan-1995	Garmisch, Germany	Super G	2nd
	20-Jan-1995	Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy	Downhill	2nd
	21-Jan-1995	Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy	Downhill	1st
	17-Feb-1995	Åre, Sweden	Downhill	1st
	04-Mar-1995	Saalbach, Austria	Downhill	1st
	11-Mar-1995	Lenzerheide, Switzerland	Downhill	1st
	15-Mar-1995	Bormio, Italy	Downhill	1st
1996	01-Dec-1995	Lake Louise, AB, Canada	Downhill	1st
	16-Dec-1995	St. Anton, Austria	Downhill	3rd
	19-Jan-1996	Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy	Downhill	1st
	20-Jan-1996	Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy	Downhill	2nd
	03-Feb-1996	Val-d'Isère, France	Downhill	2nd
	29-Feb-1996	Narvik, Norway	Downhill	1st
	01-Mar-1996	Narvik, Norway	Downhill	2nd

(source:wikipedia)