The Caffeine Queen

She enrolled at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she discovered cycling and coffee. "I started riding touring bikes, not mountain bikes, in 1989," says Furtado, neglecting to mention that later that year she won the road race at the National Cycling Championships in Park City, Utah. In 1992 she won the world championship downhill in Bromont, Que., despite having gone there to compete in her true event, cross-country. "In the cross-country Juli crashed and messed up her knee," Price recalls. "She couldn't bend her left leg." The following morning, undaunted, she entered the downhill. Pedaling with only her right leg, she beat Kim Sonier, one of the world's best riders, by 5.7 seconds. No other mountain biker, male or female, has won world titles in both cross-country and downhill. Don't worry. I'm not in your class. Having graduated from MTV to the IOC, mountain biking will be an Olympic sport next summer, and Furtado is a favorite for a gold medal. "It's unfair," says Price. "She's 10 percent better than second place."

"I never thought I'd get to compete in an Olympics after my skiing career ended," Furtado says. "Now my heart races at the prospect." No doubt.