Striving to be BEST in The World: The Women

摘要

If there were a medal given for congeniality, then this 24-year-old slalom specialist from Burnsville, Minnesota, would own the gold. Popular, easygoing "Koz" is happy that people enjoy her company, but admits it isn't always easy, being liked. Take the Nagano Olympics, for example. Koz really wishes you would. Aside from Picabo Street, she was the alpine team's best hope, but a bad case of nerves caused her to straddle a gate on the second run of the slalom. The worst of it was facing friends and family. "I had promised to do 'before' and 'after' interviews with the television station from my home town," says a somber Koznick. "After that run I was absolutely devastated. But I had promised and I had to do it, even though I was bawl ing the entire time. What a test that was."