Picabo Street is one of the most famous women skiers in history. She has won Olympic medals, including her gold in 1998. Now she is a loving mother to four sons and is partnering with Liberty Mutual Insurance and their “Top 10 Responsible Sports Moments." She is helping raise awareness for good sportsmanship in youth sports.
TCC: Some general questions I think my readers would want to know is what is one of your greatest moments as a gold medal Olympian athlete and elite athlete?
PS: Oh wow, there are so many moments that pop through my mind when you ask me that. I’d have to organize them into genres and then pull them out. Obviously winning my gold was a polarizing moment and time for me. Nothing will ever taint it, in a way, because it is so vivid and clear; something I worked so long for. But honestly, when I look back on my career I remember more of my friendships that I created and the time spent with the athletes from the other countries and getting to know them and their cultures.
Also taking advantage of being near people like that in my life, not everybody gets the opportunity to do that. So my moments are full of the roses that I had in my room when I woke up from surgery in Switzerland after I broke my leg, from Varvara from Russia who had come to try to see me and brought me flowers. I know there’s moments like that there’s when Britney Lavineberg from Sweden decided she wanted to try to run downhill and finally make the podium and ask me how I thought she could make the podium and I said you gotta start letting’ your ski down the hill on the turn. When she did and came across the finish line, her eyes were huge and she came looking for me and was like “THAT WAS AWESOME!” I will never forget the look on her face when she finally ran a downhill and ran it the way it is supposed to be run.
TCC: What do you miss most about the time you were in your career?
PS: Obviously the start to the finish is something that I still miss and always will but the rest of it fades. I guess it’s being that in control of something that seems that it should be out of control. Also feeling that strong, confident, powerful, and able. It’s a really neat way to feel. And even better than that is sharing that, making such a difference in people’s lives with that. I really am blessed with the ability of people being able to live vicariously through what I’ve done with my connection, my brain and my mouth, my ability to remember. I can still to this day run you down a course with details. It would be super fun and I am left with those memories for a lifetime it’s pretty neat.
TCC: The Liberty Mutual Insurance is in it’s third year of the “Top 10 Responsible Sports Moments of the Year”, have you been partnered with them the three years or is this your first year?
PS: This is my first year being partnered with them. I have been aware of the program because this is the kind of thing I really love to know is happening and search for. I am really honored to now be apart of it and really excited to help people participate in the program. “The Top 10 Responsible Sports Moments of the year” is Liberty Mutual’s way of making a difference in the youth’s lives. To this program there are simple acts of sportsmanship and selflessness and they occur on our youth’s sports fields like the slopes, the courts, and the rinks. It happens daily across the country, it’s really something that I am excited for people so share and be apart of. From now until November 30th coaches, parents, and whomever can submit moments at responsiblesports.com or they can tweet them and nominate moments at #RSMoments.
Each month there are three responsible sports moments and there is one winner at the end of the month. There is a $1000 donation to the organization that is responsible for that moment. There are 10 winners are the end of the year. It’s really cool, yearlong and can be followed at responsiblesports.com and can follow it [on Twitter] @RespSports. For me it just makes sense for parents, coaches, athletes, teachers and everyone to just have a pool of resources and inspiration to act responsibly. For me as a parent, I have four young boys, when I sit around and talk to them about being an athlete most of my bantering is about being responsible and being a good character with good attitude and a good team player. I just sent my boys home from vacation earlier and I’m going with the little ones because they have to get back to school and to their baseball teams that they joined and promised they’d be apart of. They need to keep that commitment, it’s important.
TCC: I think it’s great what Liberty Mutual is doing; it’s inspirational.
PS: Isn’t it? It is what people should be looking for when watching sports. Instead of looking for those scary, nasty, dirty, ugly moments that people like to look for they need to be looking for these responsible sports moments. Then feel like it’s OK for me be in one of those or create one of those and it’s definitely OK for me to nominate one and submit one.
TCC: You mentioned that you have four young sons; do they all play sports?
PS: Well they’re 9, 8, 3, and 2 [years old]. So the three, eight, and nine-year-olds do. The eight and nine have done baseball, soccer, and tae kwon do. Their attendance in tae kwon do are responsible sports moments in themselves so yeah they’re little athletes, little warriors. They love it. My nine-year-old is extremely competitive. So I constantly have to ratchet him back and keep him remembering the importance of being a good sport first. If you are a bad sport and win, it’s not going to feel good. He knows this, he’s experienced this a couple of times so he veers away from it. It’s been challenging.
TCC: What was the transition like from being an Olympian to being a mother of four?
PS: Well I’ve just kind of had to adjust where I apply my strengths. I definitely had to tone myself down on what I expect and how I go about expecting that from everyone. I’m pretty hard on myself, so I have to be careful not to be hard on others. The biggest challenge has been softening a bit and having empathy, getting down to the kids’ level and speaking their language. As far as putting me aside or on the back burner for motherhood, it happens, it’s natural, it’s instinctual and before the first one it surfaces in the air, you figure it out. I don’t know how to explain what happens, it just does. That’s been an easy transition for me, it feels like this is what I was meant to do and the rest of it is just icing on the cake, so to speak. It’s the hardest job on the planet but it’s the most rewarding at the same time.