Page 96 - Speed Skiing News Today

World cup champion. the most successful american skier in history. >> action. >> reporter: a favorite with sponsors, tabloids love her, too. her unconfirmed romance with tiger woods and her revelation that shes battled depression. >> hi, dad! >> reporter: but since she was 3 years old shes been happiest on the slopes. telling brian williams in 2010 that this is what she was born to do. >> ive given my entire life for the sport. >> reporter: there have been other heart-stopping falls. she came ba...

>> so many traps in this course with the conditions. >> reporter: it was the kind of jump lindsey vonn has made a thousand times before. but today, a horrific crash. >> over the top! and she is down heavily. lindsey vonn -- >> reporter: you can hear the painful screams, and see the shocked reaction on the faces of her fans and competitors. >> to watch her lie there, of course, as a ski racer and as a commentator, it was horrifying. >> reporter: medical teams treated vonn for 12 minutes before sh...

Its a no-fail mission. but there are real concerns. sochi is just 300 miles from chechnya and its unstable pockets of islamist militants. the brains behind deadly suicide attacks on moscow subway and international airport is still on the loose and has promised more attacks. >> russian security services, of course, that will be their absolute priority, to watch chechnya before olympics, during olympics. >> reporter: still, a world class ski resort is on track. venues have passed international tes...

Make the sport safer. >> reporter: burke was well aware of and accepted the dangers inherent in freestyle skiing. >> youre always really pushing yourself to do something that is really tough and learn and progress. so, a lot of injuries involved. and always a bit of a risk. but thats the price you pay. >> reporter: off the mountain, she was one of the most glamorous female athletes in the world. on the mountain, she was a fearsome and fearless competitor. burke successfully lobbied the internati...

>> this is a legend that will long live, even as shes gone and the sadness that pervades her sport today. its just extraordinary. >> reporter: her death is putting a new spotlight on extreme sports, which are getting more extreme every year. the head position for the u.s. snowboarding association says halfpipes, for example, have gone from 16 feet to 18, and now 22 feet. in 2009, kevin pearce, a promising, young, snowboarder, suffered a severe head injury, when he crashed in the exact same spot ...

Blazing a trail for women athletes. anne thompson, nbc news. we are back in a moment with a story about rescuing a national treasure.

Behind in her own way. her story tonight from nbcs anne thompson. >> reporter: whether on the red carpet or the halfpipe, 29-year-old sarah burke was breathtaking. >> so happy. its been a year since the injury. its good to be back. >> reporter: she was a pioneer in a sport dominated by dare devil tricks and men. burkes still made her a champion. four times at the winter x games and early favorite to win the gold medal at the 2014 winter olympics. there her speciality of freestyle halfpipe will m...

Any medal event. this tragedy, of course, not the first of its kind. in 1964, an australian downhill skier died during a training run after crashing into a tree. a british luger perished during training two weeks before the olympics in 1988 at calgary. an austrian team doctor was killed by snow grooming machines. and then in 1992, at albertville, a swiss skier died when he crashed during a warm-up for the demonstration sport of speed skiing. meantime, the olympic torch arrived in vancouver just ...

Beautiful.

Scientists. i know they got it right in the scientific literature, but put down wrong in the ipc report. that in itself is inexcusable. >> yeah, its inexcusable and hurting the nobel prize winning company. >> reporter: we got to profile an olympian. five-time olympian, only one of three guys that has been able to do that, and he is going to compete in cross-country skiing and ski jumping. thae are adrenaline junkies for sure. we will air that report then. i am not a cross-country skier, as you c...