Christin Cooper won the alpine skiing silver medal in Giant Slalom in the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. Twelve months earlier, she had fractured her tibial plateau in a downhill crash. She explains why she believes that the injury is one of the reasons she medaled.
Over her 10-year career on the US Ski Team, Christin competed in 2 Olympics, 2 World Championships, won five World Cup races and never suffered a knee ligament injury (very rare for skiers). She was also the first American skier, and is still the only female American skier, to win three medals in a single World Championships. She talks about how a healthy dose of fear helped her avoid career-ending injuries.
Full disclosure: Christin is also my Aunt! We talked about her growing up with a daredevil father on the beach in Malibu, falling in love with ski racing when the family moved to Idaho, transitioning from professional athlete to civilian, and the joys of puttering.
She and her husband, Mark, are quarantining in Mark’s native hometown of Aspen, Colorado, where they built a house twenty years ago, while running their restaurant, Montana Ale Works, in Bozeman, Montana, which is currently closed due to COVID-19, by telecommuting with their partners and staff. Towards the end of the episode we talk about how the skills she learned on the US Ski Team translate into being a successful business owner.