With a sport that can often put a boarder at the whim of their competitors' faults,
it's got to be difficult to know that you are the only one to blame. Jacobellis
managed to avoid all the early round crashes just to cause her own mishap mere yards
before snatching the gold medal.
Having made some silly mistakes myself throughout my career, I know that Jacobellis
will be playing this final stunt over and over again in her mind for many years
to come. The "if only" game will likely occupy her thoughts for years to come.
"If only I had just run it straight to the finish."
"If only I had saved the celebrating until the end."
"If only I had just focused on the task at hand."
If I were her, I wouldn't be upset for ending up second. Winning a silver medal
is an extraordinary accomplishment. I would, however, be disappointed for not doing
my best. Doing my best would be okay even if I missed the podium completely. I'm
sure that Jacobellis will always treasure her silver medal, but she will also be
disappointed in her mistake.
I made the same mistake back in 1994. In the semi-finals of the Olympics, I found
myself in first place after the first round. I got cocky and went up to all the
cameras and shouted, "USA is number 1". To add to this expression of bravado, I
preceded to gyrate my hips and stirred the imaginary pot in front of me with my
arms for the cameras. I was so concentrated on the big picture of fame and glory
that I forgot all the small steps to actually winning that fame and glory. I thought
of winning rather than focusing on my take off, what I did in the air, and my landing.
I crashed my second jump and missed moving onto finals by one place -- a mere .57
points. The woman who just beat me out of the final slot in finals went on to win
the first ever gold medal in the sport of aerial skiing.
This is why I now always tell people not to do their ‘butter-churning-dance'
before they have actually reached the ‘finish line'.
Jacobellis is not the first to hot dog it off the final jump, and she probably won't
be the last. It's almost a symbol of the free spirit of the soulful snowboarders.
But I think that many of the athletes may think twice before showboating on the
course and instead save it for the victory stand.