6. Mark Grimmette & Brian Martin
What was Brian Martin, 32, doing on USA Today's list of the 2005 top ten worst jobs in sports? Well, his sport is doubles luge, and his job is to lie underneath teammate Mark Grimmette, 34. But a podium in Turin would put the duo on the list of all-time Olympic greats. With bronze from Nagano and silver from Salt Lake, they would become the first men to medal in three straight Winter Games. And if they don't, well, they'll still have each other.
7. Lindsey Kildow
With a third place in last year's World Cup super-G standings, fifth in the downhill, and sixth overall, Lindsey Kildow turned in the best season by an American woman since Picabo Street's sixth-place finish in 1996. The one blot on her 2005 campaign was at the world championships in Bormeo, Italy, where Kildow, 21, went home empty-handed despite entering four events. "That will help her in the long run," says two-time Olympic medalist Street. "Now she knows what it takes to win under that kind of pressure. My money's on her to win everything."
| Torino, Tomato |
| No one refers to the 1960 Olympics as the Roma Games. But for 2006, the IOC has gone native, choosing Torino over Turin. This is a first—it was Munich, not München; Athens, not Athína. NBC and the U.S. team have followed suit, but, for the most part, the American print media is crying bologna. While Outside respects others' rights, we're going with Turin, too. |
8. Kelly Clark
Since claiming the first gold of the 2002 Games, snowboarder Kelly Clark, 22, has only gotten better, winning two U.S. Opens, a European Open, an X Games, and a 2005 World Cup on the superpipe at Bardonecchia, Italy, where this year's Olympic contest will be held. Besides landing McTwists at will, Clark can launch four feet higher out of the pipe than her competitors. Still, she refuses to call herself the favorite. "I'm just trying to stay focused and have fun," she says. (Note: When she's focused and having fun, she wins.)
9. Jeremy Bloom
After the NCAA forced him to choose between the sponsorship dollars he needed to continue as a pro moguls skier and the amateur status required to play football for the University of Colorado, where he was a wide receiver, Jeremy Bloom, 23, chose skiing. The payoff: the 2005 World Cup season title. But he'll try out for the NFL a week after the Olympics. And should his day jobs fall through, Bloom has also lined up a gig as a host on MTV's new high-definition channel, MHD.
