Tamara McKinney - Skiing On The World Stage

McKinney joined the World Cup tour in 1977, the same year that her older sister Sheila was injured. By 1978 the tiny Tamara McKinney-she stands 5 foot, 3 inches "on tall days"-had already established herself as a contender, when she finished third in a World Cup slalom event in Piancavallo, Italy, shortly after turning 16. At 17 she competed in her first Olympics, in front of a friendly American crowd in Lake Placid, New York, but she fell in both the slalom and the giant slalom. "I was completely overwhelmed," she later recalled to Brian Bennett of the Louisville, Kentucky, Courier-Journal. "Once I got in the start [gate] and everybody started going crazy, I had like an out-of-body experience. I felt like I couldn't move my legs."

The next year McKinney proved her skill by winning the World Cup giant slalom title, and two years after that she stunned the world by winning the overall World Cup. No American woman had ever won the overall World Cup before, and only one other non-European, Canadian Nancy Green, had ever managed the feat. McKinney was a favorite to win a medal in the 1984 Olympics, even appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated's Olympic preview issue, but the stress of having been a favorite for two years was beginning to show. She skied poorly in her first giant slalom run, and even though she had the fastest time on the second run, she still finished fourth, .43 of a second behind the bronze medal winner. She missed a gate and was disqualified in the slalom.

In 1989, after several weak years caused in part by family stress (both of McKinney's parents and her brother McLane died in the mid-to late 1980s), McKinney came back to reclaim her title as the best American woman on skis. Although she was unable to capture a World Cup title she did take the gold medal in the combined event at the FIS World Alpine Ski Championships in Vail, Colorado, finishing a mere .04 of a second ahead of Yugoslavian skier Mateja Svet. At a press conference after her win, McKinney revealed that her feet had been completely frozen when she raced-the slalom had been run when the air temperature was 24 degrees below zero-and that she was still suffering from frostbite on two toes on her left foot. McKinney retired in 1990, shortly after winning the World Championships.