Three time Olympic downhill ski racer Picabo Street still considers Sun Valley her hometown. “When people ask me where I’m from” she says, “I always say Sun Valley. And I’m very proud of that.” So it’s an honor, Street says, to be one of six skiers being inducted into the Sun Valley Ski Hall of Fame today.
“To have the community there still believe in me and believe in what I did and what I still do for the community there I’m very proud and very honored.” That comment brings emotion as she talks about growing up in Sun Valley, racing and her life today.
Street grew up in Triumph, Idaho on a small farm outside of Sun Valley. She says she actually was “old by most standards” when she learned to ski. “I was like five and a half.”
She remembers falling in love with the sport even before she knew what it really was. Her father and brother had been gone all day and when they returned Street peppered them with questions. She remembers her dad saying “‘Oh it’s skiing. You’ll learn when you get older. It’s really expensive.’ And I was like no. I want to know now and go the next time you go.”
So Street used her brother’s skis and taught herself in the backyard. “First time skiing my brother and I rode the chair lift together. And I was petrified that he was going to push me off the chair lift the whole time and so I held the center bar and cried.”
By the time, Street got to the top of the run, she was so mad that she pointed her skis downhill and went “right to the bottom. I didn’t slow down. That was the beginning of the down hiller in me.”
Street went on to compete in three Winter Olympics winning silver in 1994 and a gold in the 1998 Winter Olympics in the super G in Nagano, Japan. She was the first U.S. woman to win the World Cup in 1995 and 1996.
After her win in 1998, Street went off course at a race in Switzerland and crashed. She snapped her left femur and tore a ligament in one of her knees. It took her two years to return to racing. After the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, she retired. Two years later Street was inducted into the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame.
Now Street keeps a busy schedule, traveling as a motivational speaker and providing sports commentary. Recently she appeared on the realty TV show Stars Earn Stripes as one of eight celebrities paired with military professionals to carry out missions.
She came in second on the show and says it changed her life. “It was eye opening,” she explains as she chokes back tears. “I will tell you my children and I pray for our enlisted (for their) safety every day.” Street is raising four boys, who all are learning to ski. “Every time my kids see someone in uniform traveling or anywhere, they will do whatever they can to get near to them to say ‘Thank you for your service.’”
Street and her family spilt time between their homes in Alabama and Utah. She says it’s been a couple years since she visited Sun Valley and she’s excited to hit the slopes. “I haven’t skied there in a few years. It’s what made me the skier I am today.”
Picabo Street will be inducted into the Sun Valley Ski Hall of Fame along with five other skiers:
- Bob Rosso, owner of the Elephant’s Perch in Ketchum
- Rick Kapala, the Nordic program director for the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation
- Muffy Ritz, who’s program V.A.M.Ps has helped women learn to ski.
- Jack Reddish (deceased), a two time Olympic downhill racer in the late 1940s and 1950s.
- Bob Smith (deceased), who invented Smith Optics.
The Ketchum Sun Valley Historical Society created the hall of fame three years ago to honor past and present skiers.
Copyright 2013 Boise State Public Radio