Stefania was emotionally favored to win the 15k cross-nation race. She was the very first Italian to ever before win an Olympic gold medal in X-country skiing at the age of 23. Four months before the winter season video games, she had been asked to see a community in Italy that had really high elevation and extreme stress. She was asked to bring her medals to reveal them to the youngsters for encouragement concerning their futures as possible Olympic athletes. While she existed, the crystal inside her only gold medal exploded right into thousands of fragments, a sign of rotten luck. She was informed it was due to the high altitude. Her bad luck continued two weeks prior to the Olympics. She was training, and her skis were stolen from the vehicle that carried all the Italian skier’s gear.

It takes a very long time to have actual skis created cross country and even longer to damage them in to ensure that they await a race. For you and I, that would be a misfortune. However, for Stefania, an Olympic athlete, her skis are an extension of her body. She had them custom-made for her body style; she had trained in them and completed in them; she had actually won with those skis. To have them stolen just weeks before she will complete once more was unconscionable, and sports medals there was assurance that she could never win. She placed it behind her, rose to the occasion, and concerned about the UNITED STATE Normally; an X-country racer completes against the clock, not in a pack with others skiers.

In the pack was her competitor from Russia, who had actually won the past four races against Belmondo. Her pole got caught in between the legs of a Russian skier, and the post broke. There are no feasible means an X-country skier can win without their poles. She dropped far back and didn’t know what to do when she snooped a French train running in the direction of her to provide her his post … he was shrieking, “take it, take it!!!!” It was a man’s pole, a tall man’s post. Stefania is just 5? 2?. Once more, defeat and concern impended in front of her with strength. She stumbled along as best as she could, and eventually, her coach heard what had occurred and hurried to her with a post that was suited to her dimension. He ran up close to her on the hill, on the track, and he screamed, “take it … you can do it, don’t give up.”