ZHANGJIAKOU, China — The running joke was American snowboardcross racer Nick Baumgartner always referring to them as a pair of 40-somethings.
“I’m 36,” Lindsey Jacobellis playfully corrected time after time in interview after interview.
For these two, and all their vast experience, age proved to be one thing — golden.
Jacobellis won her second title of the Beijing Olympics, teaming with Baumgartner to capture the new event of mixed team snowboardcross on Saturday.
At 40 years, 57 days, Baumgartner, the concrete worker/contractor from Michigan, becomes the oldest snowboarder to win an Olympic medal. At 36 years, 177 days, Jacobellis, the author of a children’s book, is the second-oldest.
“You’re never too late to take what you want from life,” Baumgartner said. “You let yourself down if you quit too early, doesn’t matter how old you are. Our success at our age is a perfect example of that.”
Jacobellis took gold earlier this week in the women’s event; it came 16 years after a late showboat move as she was cruising in for an apparent win cost her the title at the Turin Games.
“It’s the internal fire in believing in yourself, whether you’re trying to go get a gold medal or just improving your day-to-day life,” Jacobellis said. “You continue to try to grow and better yourself.”
After a slow start at the Beijing Olympics, the U.S. now has five gold medals and 11 overall. Jacobellis accounts for two, while snowboarder Chloe Kim has another. The Americans have also won two new Olympic events contested at the Genting Snow Park — mixed team aerials and now mixed team snowboardcross.
Although the unique snowboarding discipline made its Olympic debut in China, the event has been featured for nearly a decade at numerous World Cup stops.
It’s a competition that features a male and female rider from the same country being paired up and placed into a multi-team bracket. When the male racer crosses the line, the time advantage he holds over the next competitor is applied to…
Source : espn
