Julia Mancuso - Olympic Champion

Julia Mancuso

Julia Marie Mancuso (born March 9, 1984) is an American World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist. She won the giant slalom at the 2006 Winter Olympics, and was the silver medalist in both downhill and combined in 2010, and the bronze medalist in the combined in 2014. She has also won five medals (two silver and three bronze) at the World Championships and seven races in regular World Cup competition. Her four Olympic medals are the most ever for a female American alpine skier.

During the Olympic Alpine Skiing competition in Torino in 2006, former Olympic gold medal winner Picabo Street stated what a big disappointment the U.S. women skiers have been up to the point. Right after she said that, 21 year old Julia Mancuco skied her perfect gold medal winning Giant Slalom race (see above). Even the Italian fans present cheered for that "Mancuso" girl from Lake Tahoe. If Olympic medals are the chief manner of judging success, Julia has gone on to win two more silver medals (Vancouver 2010) and a bronze medal (Sochi 2014). She is half Calabrian and half Cisalpine ancestry.

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Vancouver Winter Olympics - February 12-28

It's hard to believe that it has already been almost four years since the Torino games of 2006. I can recall when the USA woman's Alpine skiing team was ready to compete and the famed American skier Picabo Street said flatly that she was unimpressed by the immaturity of the no-name American team. Shortly thereafter, twenty-one year old Julia Mancuso from Reno won the gold in the Giant slalom. The Italian fans responded by cheering for "Mancuso."

In the following several years since then, Julia has not lived up to her performance in Torino. It should be interesting to see if she responds well as she did last time to the big event. Some athletes do their best when everything is on the line. It's the same concept as someone who is a great performer in practice, but can't seem to duplicate it when it counts; while other athletes are the exact opposite, rising to the occasion. Of course, she's only twenty-five, and has struggled with injuries.

Interestingly, in 2009, American skier Lindsey Vonn, from St. Paul, has exploded onto the scene with two gold metals in Val d'Isère (Downhill & Super-G). She appears to be the best woman's American skier now. She is also twenty-five.

Alpine people in Italy always have a good showing in the winter games. There are also heavy mountains in other parts of the peninsula as well.

The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics will take place from February 12-28, and will be aired on NBC.
http://www.vancouver2010.com/
http://www.nbcolympics.com/

Julia Mancuso, 2006 Olympic gold medalist in Torino (Giant slalom), from Reno, Nevada.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Mancuso
http://www.juliamancuso.com/

Lindsey Vonn, 2009 double gold medalist in Val d'Isère (Downhill & Super-G), from St. Paul, Minnesota.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsey_Vonn

Lindsey Vonn, Julia Mancuso, who's hotter?

Julia Mancuso: Superstar in the World of Alpine Skiing

During the Torino Winter Olympics in 2006, one veteran gold medalist Alpine skier, working as a commentator, stated how she was really unimpressed with the current crop of U.S. woman skiers. That they left a lot to be desired, and something about their lack of maturity.

As what often happens in sport, one skier rose from out of the pack and delivered one of the greatest performances of all time. A 21 year old from Nevada/Northern California named Julia Mancuso. She won the gold medal for the woman's Giant Slalom.

Since that time, I thought we could cover her much more than we have here. She has, however, just for the record, arrived as a bonafide superstar in Alpine Skiing. Because of her personality and good looks, she has also been very marketable as, lets face it, a sexy young American athlete.

She's very active, both as an athlete, and in other endeavors. Recently she took up surfing, which was amusing since surfing is the polar opposite of skiing. Last month she climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro for charity. She's currently raising money for the World Wildlife Fund, and a lot of other concerns. She's really an amazing young woman, and it seems to come natually for her. I think many people have taken to her because she is so genuine.

There are so many great bios about Julia that I think it may be a little too long winded to place all of the text here. Also, there are so many great photos of her. For example, the Kilimanjaro climb, which she seemed to take a little lightly and had to pull it together. That is one giant mountain. Anyway, I just couldn't place all of her images here now, as there are just too many of them. There are also a lot of excellent video streams of her at YouTube. I have many links to look at below.


Again, like always, I feel that I haven't even begun to do this justice, in this little space here now. Hopefully we can follow Julia better in the next two years, towards the Vancouver Winter Olympics of 2010! That should really be something, up in "British California," as some call it. Lastly, you might want to read her account of the Kilimanjaro climb from the link to her blog below.

Julia Mancuso - Official Site

Kilimanjaro: Pain and Riches [from Julia's blog]

Bio from USSkiTeam.com

Julia Mancuso [Wikipedia]

Julia video streams on YouTube

Julia interview from 'Outside' magazine [11/07]

Julia gallery from 'Outside' magazine photo shoot

Torino 2006 Aftermath

[The following is an entry from our old blog, which I wanted to move here]

During the Torino games, I saw many connections come to the surface, past and present, between Torino/Northwest Italy and Northern California. With so much attention focused on Torino, many non-sports related articles were featured, with links between the two areas. I felt that it was too bad that we couldn't take more advantage of this event, to tie us all together closer. To let them know we're here.

When American skier Julia Mancuso of Truckee, California, of Padanian descent, won the Gold medal in the Woman's Giant Slalom, the local Italian fans cheered for her like she was one of their own. A few days ago, Sefano Bagnasco of the Lega Nord Party acknowledged the Padanian-American League. Hopefully, this will begin a process of mutual contact which will grow into the future.