Picabo Street Alpine Skier Age: 26 Birthplace: Triumph, Idaho Residence: Portland, Oregon Height & Weight: 5-feet-7, 158 pounds Events: Downhill, Super G

S he became America's darling in Lillehammer when she won the silver medal in the downhill with her engaging smile, melodious name -- and some very fast skis.

In Nagano, all eyes again will be on Picabo Street.

"They're going to see a show in Nagano. One way or the other. Regardless of whether or not I'm standing up there winning a gold medal or not," says Street. "If it's positive enough and if it's an intense enough story with passion in it, regardless of what it's about, it's going to move people. And that's what I'm about -- moving people."

Street might well be the favorite in Nagano if not for a disastrous knee injury she suffered on a training run in Vail in December 1996. She tore the anterior cruciate ligament and had a partial tear of the medial cruciate ligament, knocking her off the slopes for more than six months.

She first got back on skis in July 1997 -- "I've never been so awake at 6 o'clock in the morning in my life," she says -- and returned to the World Cup circuit December 18 when she finished 11th in the Super G and 10th in the downhill in Val d'Isere, France.

After so much time off, Street has re-discovered why she took up skiing in the first place.

"It gave me a new motivation for the sport, resurfaced my love for the actual sensation of skiing, literally feeling the wind blow through my hair and the sensation of sliding," Street says. "It was a re-found love that I think I needed because I don't know if I would have been able to go for another two, three, four, five more years without me questioning what I'm doing."

Her early success after the knee injury was a huge relief -- and a huge jump from where she was only months earlier.

"I battled depression within the first month [after the injury]," she says. "It was watching my body change after five or six years of vigorous training and the beef I had layered myself with. I just shred off layers, especially off my left leg. It went from large and tight to small and mushy. I'd catch myself sitting in my room, looking at my little, atrophied leg and just crying."

In 1995, Street began a two-year dominance of the downhill rarely seen in American skiing. She won nine World Cup races, becoming the first American to win the World Cup downhill title. She was third at the 1996 World Championships in Sierra Nevada, Spain, winning the downhill and finishing third in the Super G.

She became known worldwide, with sign-toting fans along the courses from many different countries. Her name -- her parents allowed her to choose the name Picabo, a town in southern Idaho with a Native American name that translates to "Shining Waters" -- her effusiveness and her skills made her instantly recognizable.

She even caught the eye of skiing's biggest name, Italy's Alberto Tomba.

"Having Picabo at the top of the sport -- we need that in skiing," says Tomba. "Maybe we're both fireballs. I haven't known her that long, just four years, because she's very young. Maybe sometime I'll be her coach for the slalom, and she'll be the best in the world."

Street rode her name and her success at Lillehammer to a Nike sponsorship with a signature tennis shoe, a line of ski gear produced by Spyder, a ski by Rossignol and numerous ad campaigns for United Airlines, Chapstick, Pepsi and Rolex.

Whether she can overcome her injury and match that success at these Olympics will be one of the biggest questions in Nagano. She acknowledges she will be hard-pressed to topple Germany's Katja Seizinger, her longtime rival who dominated downhill in December.

"Yes," says Street about the woman who beat her in Lillehammer, "but Katja will be the first to tell you not to count me out, too."

Each day during the Olympics, CNN/SI will bring you TNT's Athlete of the Day, a detailed look at the personalities that spice up the Games. Check back every day for a new athlete, and be sure to catch TNT's daily in-depth coverage of the Winter Olympics.

Athletes of the Day

• February 20 - KC Boutiette • February 19 - Alberto Tomba • February 18 - Michelle Kwan • February 17 - Eric Bergoust • February 16 - Todd Lodwick • February 15 - Kirstin Holum • February 14 - Thorpe/Sheer • February 13 - Masahiko Harada • February 12 - Todd Eldredge • February 11 - Elvis Stojko • February 10 - Donna Weinbrecht • February 9 - The Forsbergs • February 8 - Picabo Street • February 7 - Cammi Granato • February 6 - Tommy Moe

Watch TNT's coverage of the Winter Olympics!