Snowboardcross gaffe costs U.S. gold medal

BARDONECCIA, Italy – The specter of Leon Lett touched down on the icy women's snowboardcross course Friday.

Lindsey Jacobellis of Stratton, Vt., was swooshing all alone toward an apparent Olympic gold medal in the exhilarating – if not downright crazy – sport when the unthinkable happened.

The 20-year American star went flying off the second-to-last jump on the final straightaway and caught some big air (which is not necessarily good in SBX). She reached down in mid-flight to grab her board, twisting her body a bit as well. To the crowd, it looked like a style move in an American-born sport that thrives on it.

But unlike the halfpipe, snowboardcross isn't at all about style. It's about survival.

After her backside method grab, Jacobellis didn't stick the landing. She caught the backside edge of her board and fell on her back, sliding beyond the blue line marking the course. By the time she scrambled back up, Switzerland's Tanja Frieden was speeding past her to claim the sport's first women's Olympic gold medal.

Jacobellis had to settle for the silver, which nonetheless gave American snowboarders six medals in the Turin Games.

She could have been the fourth U.S. snowboarder to win gold in the Alps, and the second in snowboardcross. Seth Wescott won the men's gold medal on Thursday in the Olympic debut of the thrill-a-minute sport that features four racers going side-by-side down the mountain on a 1,000-yard course with tight, high-banked turns and various jumps.

Jacobellis initially denied she was showboating. She said she was simply trying to stabilize her board against the Alpine wind.

U.S. coach Peter Foley said the same thing.

Two hours after his rider tumbled, Foley changed his story after viewing a sequence of photos shot by The Associated Press.

"She definitely styled that a little too hard," Foley said. "That's probably a little riskier than what you want to do. That was a good, stable grab, but she pulled across too far for it to be safe."

Thus the Lett comparison.

The former Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman will forever be remembered for his hot-dogging gaffe in the 1993 Super Bowl. He picked up a fumble and rumbled toward what should have been a glorious moment in the Cowboys' rout over the Buffalo Bills.

Approaching the end zone, though, he began to strut and raised the ball. Bills receiver Don Beebe swooped in from behind and swatted it out of Lett's hand at the 1-yard line.

Hours after taking the tumble, Jacobellis finally 'fessed up.

"I was caught up in the moment," she said. "I think every now and then you might see something like that. I didn't even think twice.

"I was having fun," she added. "Snowboarding is fun. I was ahead. I wanted to share with the crowd my enthusiasm. I messed up. Oh well, it happens."

Jacobellis' family, which had been cheering in the front row of the bleachers while waving American flags and wearing red, white and blue stovepipe hats, was stunned when she fell.

At the time of her wipeout, Jacobellis had a huge lead over Frieden. Plus, the other two riders in the final had fallen. One, Canadian Maelle Ricker, was injured in a fall early in the run and was taken off the course on a stretcher. She was taken to a hospital in Turin for observation, and released.

Jacobellis' trick was unfortunate because she had survived some scrapes during earlier heats, including one in a curve when her board made contact with that of France's Karine Ruby.

In this sport, one wipeout and it's over.

"When she tangled it up with Karine, I was like, 'Oh, how's she going to stand up?' " Foley said. "And this one, it was like a gift all of a sudden, she was so far in front."

Regardless of the outcome, the last two days were a scintillating debut for snowboardcross.

It's been compared to NASCAR on ice. But this was better than NASCAR, because these riders have pigtails.

The crowd loved every wipeout, and there were plenty.

It's also a sport Yogi Berra would love.

"I was already stoked for silver but I knew I had to concentrate because it's never finished until we're done," Frieden said. "I saw her crash there, and it was like, 'Whoa!' I knew, 'Hey, keep it together, you're not done.' "

Foley agreed.

"I don't think anybody has it until they cross the line. I know better. The whole time I was yelling at the screen, 'Keep racing.' You see it all the time."

The best thing for Jacobellis, of course, would be to come back in 2010 and win the gold medal at Vancouver. She's already achieved fame, having appeared in a credit card commercial that aired plenty before the Turin Games and posing for Seventeen Magazine.

"It's got to be really hard," Foley said. "But I'm proud of her. She rode great all day, and it's not easy. You can see right from the start it's not easy. It's tough the whole way."

Jacobellis was relieved that she at least had a podium finish.

"It was so frustrating because I didn't know how close everyone was. I thought, 'Everyone's going to pass me and I was going to miss any medal. I'm so glad I got a medal."

Minus that pesky backside method grab, it would have been gold.