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Yesterday on one of my my many visits to ESPN.com I was introduced to Lindsey Jacobellis. Lindsey Jacobellis was heavily favored to win the gold in boardercross.

What is boardercross?

Boardercross is an olympic event in which four competitiors race down a mountain on snowboards. There are twists, turns, and jumps. The course is pretty narrow so the athletes get close to each other and there is always contact made. This usually leads to someone falling so the race becomes who can survive the carnage.

Back to Lindsey Jacobellis. I read on ESPN.com that she was close to winning the gold and then she fell on the last jump before the finish line.

Granted I didn't read the entire article, actually I just read the headline, but it did no justice to what actually happened.

Last night while enjoying some cocktails with my roommate and one of our friends we stumbled upon NBC's airing of boardercross. I had told them about Lindsey's misfortune so the anticipation began to build. We watched the prelims, quarterfinals and semifinals.

Then it was time for the finals. About ten seconds into the race one racer inexplicably fell coming off the first jump. Just as we stopped laughing and screaming about fifteen seconds later, a second racer goes flying through the mesh gate that outlined the course. This caused even more of an uproar.

While all this is going on Lindsey has built what would have normally been an insurmountable leave over the racer in second place. Then it happened.

As explained by the announcers, normally boardercross competitors don't like to get a lot of air coming off jumps because it slows them down.

That being said, before the final jump Lindsey looks over her shoulder (she really turned her head and looked) to see where the nearest competitor was. I guess Lindsey thought she was far enough ahead to start celebrating.

On the final jump she takes and does a trick. She would have never done this if the race was closer. Then instead of landing the trick and crossing the finish line, she falls flat on her tookus. The racer behind her comes sliding past her and takes home the gold.

The best part came when Lindsey crossed the finish line in second place and stopped about a foot away from the gold medal winner. The combination of the winner celebrating with her coach and the look on Lindsey's face was sheer comedy.

Posted in D Weezy's blog | | | | 314 reads