Picabo: Nothing to Hide

by Picabo Street, Dana White

Overview

Olympic Gold Medalist Picabo Street is once again on the rise, ready to face the 2002 Olympics and tell her extraordinary story

"Picabo Street...is the kind of athlete for which the Olympics were invented."­­USA Today

"Street...has been performing at Porsche speed...dominating women's downhill... [a] comeback queen."­­Glamour

"Picabo rules... America's irrepressible ski champion."­­Skiing

Olympic Champion Picabo Street is golden once again

The moment she burst onto the world stage at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, 23-year-old speed demon Picabo Street ignited a fire of excitement in the media and in the hearts of fans that continues to burn today. Free-spirited and outspoken, Street was a new kind of female athlete and a new kind of role model.

Street followed her silver medal win with two straight World Cup downhill titles­­a feat unmatched in American skiing­­and finally, the ultimate Olympic gold medal win in Nagano in 1998. But success had its price. Just one month after her gold medal win, Street careened off course in a race in Switzerland, snapping her left femur in two, shredding the ligament in her right knee, and leaving her future in peril. Now, after two years of excruciating pain, grueling rehabilitation, and stunning personal growth, Street is making a comeback, ready to face the 2002 Winter Olympics and ready to tell her inspiring story.

In this powerful, honest autobiography, Street shares her coming-of-age experience, revealing how adversity shaped a rebellious tomboy into a champion athlete and compassionate woman, in harmony with her family and at peace with her fear of failure. Here, for the first time, Street addresses the pressures exerted on her by her ski sponsors that may have been partly to blame for her terrible crash; the scandals surrounding the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee; and how she overcame a lengthy, debilitating depression.

In the tradition of Lance Armstrong's It's Not About the Bike and Greg Louganis's Breaking the Surface, Picabo: Nothing to Hide is a poignant, intimate account of a woman forced to rebuild herself­­body, mind, and soul.

"I learned what all girls need to learn: that you can kick ass, and you should never be ashamed of it."­­Picabo Street

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780071402736
Publisher:	McGraw Hill LLC
Publication date:	11/08/2001
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	928,019
File size:	415 KB

About the Author

Picabo Street is one of the best-known female athletes the United States and much of the world. The widespread publicity blitz ignited by her Olympic winning performance continues today, promising that she will be one of the most highly publicized athletes to compete at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. Street lives in Park City, Utah.

Dana White is a former executive editor of Skiing magazine and senior articles editor at Conde Nast's Women's Sports & Fitness. She has an MFA from the University of California, Irvine's Program in Writing. White lives in Westchester County, New York.

Editorial Reviews

The premier American skier of this generation, Picabo Street won a gold medal in the super G at the 1998 Olympics at Nagano and a silver medal in the downhill at the 1994 Olympics. Three years ago, she earned equally large headlines when a body-wrenching crash shattered her right leg in four places. At the time of publication, Street was back on the slopes, earnestly prepping for the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. This candid, high-spirited memoir reminds one of Lance Armstrong.

bn.com

In her autobiography, Olympic ski racer Street gives a solid chronology of her career with her independent "I'll do what I want" attitude. Not a typical sports superstar, Street prefers to hang out with her family or old friends. She's also not been a favorite model for magazine covers, since, due to her injuries, her weight has greatly fluctuated. However, it becomes evident that Street cares most about excelling at her sport and when she doesn't perform well, she blames herself and vows to improve for the next competition. Street attributes her atypical traits to her upbringing in Triumph, Idaho a small town near the Sun Valley and Ketchum ski resorts, where she grew up a tomboy and to her parents, who were "hippies" feeding the family from homegrown vegetables and providing the bare minimum. As an adolescent, Street's speed was apparent as she beat many more experienced male skiers. She loved speed but she also loved to please her father, who coached her. Street is charming and sometimes refreshingly honest: "Unfortunately, ski racing is no way to lose weight.... Skiing is also anaerobic. Getting your heart rate up for 90 seconds isn't enough to burn much fat. Then you sit around in the lodge, trying not to eat pastries and French fries. What can I say? I like to eat." Fans of Picabo will enjoy this book but, because she hasn't been in the public eye recently, her audience may be somewhat limited. (Nov.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

At age 30, world downhill champion and Olympic gold and silver medalist Picabo Street has written the story of her childhood and her racing career. Born in a half-abandoned Idaho mining town to unconventional parents, Picabo thrived on reckless, thrill-seeking juvenile adventures. After she began skiing, her living-on-the-edge style fueled her drive to the top. But it also led to tempestuous relations with teammates and a sportswriter's dream as she spouted statements like "Only the wild ones win." This book explains the differences between the types of racing, such as Super G and giant slalom, and provides an armchair understanding of how steep and treacherous the runs are. This story, told with youthful freshness and informal language, is engaging and honest. Readers will be cheering for her to succeed at the 2002 Olympics. Recommended for all public libraries, especially where skiing is popular. Kathy Ruffle, Coll. of New Caledonia Lib., Prince George, BC Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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