Faces of the Games
Though the media tend to focus on a handful of superstars, no fewer than 2,600 athletes competed in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics-every one of whom represents the best the world has to offer. Setting up shop in town, VF.com invited a wide array of athletes-both lesser-known lights and legends in the making-to share their moment of hard-earned glory.
GRETCHEN BLEILER
Age: 25. Country: U.S.A. Sport: Half-pipe snowboarding. Placed: 11th. Vancouver expectations: “In 2006, my goal was to medal, and I got silver. So coming into this … I really wanted to get the gold medal.” More important than the podium: “Landing my perfect run. And my second run was really close. It was all perfect until that fall.” Go big or go home: “I ran into some struggles with my signature trick, the Crippler Seven, all week, and so I finally got through that on the last run, and that felt really good to have gotten that back … I think it would have been a bummer to not have gone for it and to have gotten third. I came to win and not accept anything less than that.” Post-Olympic plans: “I will probably go to the U.S. Open and try to get that perfect run-just one contest later.”
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