Picabo Street

The regular rich kids on the slopes would not have to put up with Street for long. When she was 15 she joined the U.S. junior ski team, and soon won the National Junior downhill and Super Giant (Super G) slaloms. The coaches decided to move her up the next level, and she started training with the U.S. ski team in 1986.

No one could deny Street's natural ability, but for too long she had relied on that and only that, failing to heed authority. This often got her in trouble. Picabo stayed out late, spoke without thinking, and all too often ignored the coach's curfew. In 1990 she was suspended from the team for her attitude. That, and the fact that she showed up to training camp overweight and out of shape.