Mountain Mogul

Silver medalist Bahrke has reason to smile

The game face can take many forms. Some athletes tuck their lips in, so the mouth becomes a red gash surrounded by bloodless white. Others take on a zombie-like air that tells the world do not disturb. Some paint on an icy sneer.

Shannon Bahrke's game face was altogether different. Staring down Deer Valley's treacherous 265-meter course last Saturday before the second run of the women's mogul competition, the 21-year-old Bahrke smiled. "It was really odd," she gushed later, after getting America's first medal of the 2002 Olympics, a silver. "I'd never done that before, but it was what I needed to relax. I felt my time had come."

When her coach, Jeff Wintersteen, saw those pearly whites, he smiled too. "It's what she's known for: her enthusiasm and her smile," Wintersteen said. "That and her incredible quickness. She was really tight on her first run, and when she's giddy like that, she skis better."

As the 5'4", 120-pound Bahrke pounded down the course, her knees looked like piano keys playing ragtime as she maneuvered through the moguls. Her first jump was a helicopter-iron cross -- a 360-degree aerial with her skis briefly forming an X behind her back. Her second jump was another helicoptering 360, with both hands punching the air. From there she bada-bada-boomed to the finish line to the adoring roars of, among others, two dozen or so family members, each wearing a red-white-and blue Go Shannon! cap, many of whom had traveled from Tahoe City, Calif., to cheer her.

It had been an emotional 2 1/2 years for all of them. In August 1999 Bahrke came down with a severe staph infection that was eating away at the sacroiliac joint in her back. She lost 20 pounds in the three months it took to recover -- she spent six weeks getting antibiotics intravenously 24 hours a day -- and doctors told her she'd probably never ski at the World Cup level again. It didn't take her long to prove them wrong. She had six top 10 finishes in 2000 and ended the year sixth in the World Cup standings.

It wasn't until her U.S. Ski Team Gold Cup win at Deer Valley on Dec. 31, however, that Bahrke broke through as an Olympic medal contender. The victory guaranteed her a spot on the U.S. team. A week later she won her first World Cup event, in Oberstdorf, Germany. Then came, in quick succession, third- and a second-place finishes in France. "I knew I was a good skier before winning the Gold Cup," she says, "but I didn't believe I was good enough to be on the podium."

Neither, apparently, did the researchers at NBC. During the broadcast of the opening ceremonies, a cameraman was looking to catch the reactions of U.S. medal contenders. "Who are you?" the TV guy asked Bahrke. When she told him, he moved on.

Hannah Hardaway of Moultonboro Borough, N.H., was the American whom many expected to become the first women's medalist in moguls since Donna Weinbrecht won gold in 1992. However, Hardaway, who'd finished third in the qualifying run, had trouble with her jumps in the finals and finished a disappointing fifth. Skiing next to last, Ann Battelle, a four-time Olympian from Steamboat Springs, Colo., finished seventh.

That meant the only person standing between Bahrke, who was waiting nervously at the bottom of the course, and the gold was Norway's Kari Traa, who had dominated the World Cup season, winning five of six events. (Her one loss had been to Bahrke.) So it was no surprise when Traa, who was competing in front of Norwegian crown prince Haakon, added a gold to the bronze she'd earned at the Nagano Games. "Kari competes flawlessly under pressure," Bahrke said. "She's the best in the world and has proven it time and time and timeagain."

Still, Bahrke took the prize for biggest smile, both before and after the race. "I'm numb all over," she said, eyes glittering. "Seeing the smile on my dad's face with tears rolling down his face -- there are no words for that."      

Sports Illustrated senior writer E.M. Swift is in Utah covering the Olympics for the magazine and CNNSI.com. Check back regularly for his behind-the-scenes reports from Salt Lake City.

 

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