Swe-e-ll! Lindsey swings: first woman to --
-- Bring gold to red, white, and blue [1]
Yay, Vonn! An amazin' feelin':
As you go a' downhill, reelin'
A bouquet: ... We love you, L. Vonn

Twin championships: '08, '09 [2]
No "G-spot" miss: away in flight [3]
Brave, Hon! Make your way, free-wheelin'
A fine show: top spot, you're sealin'
So, "Hurray" ... a-bove you: no one [4]

"Kildon", such a great beginning: [5]
Trofeo: you started winning [6]
And so rad: found your ideal in --
-- Pic-a-bo Street [7]

Crave fun: bike with Mancuso [8]
Well, she just couldn't do so
Felt, she: so awf'lly blue, so:
Train on, did she [9]

[interlude, as Lindsey trains citius, altius, fortius] [10]

Brave run: it was hazy seein' [11]
Best time: go, like Satan, fleein'
More gold, add: what awesome skiin'
We love to see!

Gave all, downhill, propel, she
Gate: fall; not feeling well, she [12]
Hell-bent; though pain, not slowly
Rave, Vonn, do we!



[1] First American woman ever to win Olympic Gold in the Downhill ski race.

[2] Also the first American woman to win back-to-back overall World Cup championships.

[3] Also *also*, the first American woman to win a World Cup championship in the "super-giant-slalom", universally shortened to "Super-G".

[4] Also also also ... bottom line: Most successful American woman skier in history.

[5] One of her nicknames, probably a portmanteau of her maiden name, Kildow, and husband's name, Vonn.

[6] In 1999, Vonn became the first American to win at Italy's Trofeo Topolino, an event for younger skiers, where she was victorious in slalom at age 15.

[7] Picabo Street was the first American woman to win World Cup downhill season titles, doing so in 1995 and 1996. Couple of Olympic Golds and a few other colors. A run at the Sun Valley, Idaho (US) ski resort was renamed "Picabo's Street". (they just couldn't leave the punny last name alone ;)
At age 10, Vonn met Street, and considered her a hero and role model. The meeting made enough of an impression on Street that she later became Vonn's mentor.

[8] Julia Mancuso, another not-too-bad US skier, who took Silver in the Olympic downhill behind Vonn's Gold, among other accomplishments.

[9] In her late teens, Vonn went for a bike ride with Julia and Julia's father, but found herself miles behind. A "wake-up" call to toughen the training, developing the tremendous leg strength and endurance needed for the sport.

[10] The Olympic motto, "Citius, Altius, Fortius", Latin for "Faster, Higher, Stronger"

[11] For *any* skier, racer or not, the glare from brightly sunlit snow is handled by dark-tinted goggles. In shady or foggy conditions, yellow goggles can increase contrast, making it easier to see variations in the terrain, snow, and surface. The most challenging is when conditions change repeatedly during a single run, as was the case on the Olympic course, which had brightly-lit sections and shady ones, plus some fog at times.

[12] Had an "excruciating" painfully-bruised right shin even before the Olympics started, from a training run in Austria. Got a slight break (not to the bone; no pun intended) when adverse weather and snow conditions delayed many events a few days, but if you saw the winning run, she was favoring the right leg and ski -- the G-forces in turns at those speeds are tremendous -- and she actually came across the finish line standing on her left ski only, with the right one lifted slightly in the air to get the weight off of it and ease the pain.

Typically-stupid announcer comment: "That's incredibly difficult, skiing (straight to the finish line) on one ski at those speeds!"
No, it isn't. Like a bicycle, speed makes it easier to balance on one ski in a straight run, although you can do it standing still, too (not on a bicycle.) ... and turns have almost all weight on the outside ski, so it's a constant progression of shifting from one ski to the other.

Vonn did at least one hard left turn with much of the weight on the left (inside) ski, sacrificing the leverage of the outside ski because of the pain. But as for the announcer: Six-year-olds in TT's never-ever (beginner) classes were taught to lift one ski off the ground and go downhill on the other, as a balance maneuver.

US Army saying: "Do *something*, even if it's wrong."
TV announcers' saying: "Say *something*, even if it's wrong."