February 19, 1984: Top twins

SARAJEVO - From an early age, the Mahre twins seemed destined for skiing greatness. Twins Phil and Steve Mahre literally grew up on the slopes, as their father was the manager of a ski area and moved the family into a house on the base of the slopes. Phil and Steve showed skiing promise from an early age, with a ski manufacturer sending them free equipment when they were 12, and an agent offered them a lifetime contract when they were 13.

At age 15, Phil made the U.S. downhill team, and he competed in the 1976 games as an 18-year-old. He started competing in the World Cup circuit regularly through the rest of the 1970s and broke through with a gold and a silver medal in the 1980 Olympics. He then followed that up with World Cup championships in each of the next three winters.

Steve, meanwhile, began to come into his own right about this time, winning eight World Cup races in the early 1980s. While Steve was never as accomplished as his twin brother, both were highly regarded in skiing circles when the 1984 Winter Olympics rolled around.

At the start of the slalom event in 1984, Steve Mahre held the lead after the first run, with Sweden's Jonas Nilsson in second and Phil Mahre in third. Phil, though, skiied flawlessly in his second run, taking the overall lead. He held onto his lead when Nilsson faltered and dropped out of medal contention. That left Steve as the only man standing between his brother and another gold medal. Steve was in a position where a near-flawless run would give him the gold, but that didn't happen. He made just enough mistakes on his second run to finish second, just two-tenths of a second behind his brother.

The 1-2 finish by the Mahre twins was just the highlight of a fantastic skiing performance by the Americans in Sarajevo. American men and women combined for five medals in the six events that year.

But nobody had a better day than the Mahre family on February 19. Not only did Phil and Steve finish 1-2, but, an hour before he won the gold, Phil's wife gave birth in Arizona. Phil didn't know about it until an interview after his race.

February 17, 2010: Golden girl

WHISTLER, B.C. - Lindsey Vonn was identified early on as the poster girl for the 2010 U.S. Olympic team. The combination of her good looks and her fearless racing style made her the featured athlete leading up to the games, appearing on television and in magazine spreads.

It helped that she had been successful, entering the Olymipcs with three straight World Cup championships. Though she had never been on an Olympic medal podium going into the 2010 games, she was widely expected to end that drought.

She got more attention just before the games by revealing that she had a bruised shin, which would make it difficult for her to compete. For her critics, this revelation was viewed as the beginnings of an excuse. Many felt that Vonn was starting to get nervous about the high expectations placed on her and was fabricating or exaggerating her injury in case she failed to live up to those lofty goals.

Regardless of the seriousness of her injury, the unseasonably warm weather in Vancouver gave Vonn extra time to heal and prepare, and she competed in her first event, the downhill, on February 17. Finally able to ski after months of anticipation, Vonn delivered, winning the gold over teammate Julia Mancuso by .56 seconds. While the win gave Vonn her first Olympic medal of any color, it also gave her the first downhill gold medal ever won by an American woman.

With the gold medal firmly in hand, Vonn could relax. In her mind, winning one gold justified the expectations on her, and she could ski more freely in the remaining events. This attitude may have cost her, as she crashed out in three of the four remaining events, claiming bronze in super-G. Despite winning medals in only two of the five events she entered, Vonn was happy with her Olympics, and her success seemed to justify the pre-Olympics attention she received.