Finishing touch: 16 years later, Jacobellis gets her gold

When bad things happen at the Olympics, no one ever lets it go. Nobody’s learned that lesson the hard way more than Lindsey Jacobellis.

A full 16 years and a world removed from the day the American snowboardcross racer gave away the gold medal with a showboat move near the finish line, Jacobellis rode hard to the end and won it. Instead of a blank stare and a look of shocked disbelief after taking silver in Italy, Jacobellis clenched her fists and pumped them to celebrate gold in China. She smiled wide and placed her hands over her heart. The victory Wednesday marked a remarkable climb back up an Olympic mountain that Jacobellis, now 36 and a seasoned veteran in this game, had every reason to detest.

Or leave behind.

“Some days, I really don’t like it,” she said. “Some days, it’s very stressful and aggravating and there’s anxiety through the roof. But when it all comes all together, it really makes it worth it.”

She won America’s first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics. She became the oldest U.S. woman to win a gold in Winter Games history. Also, the 16 years marked the longest gap between medals for any U.S. woman at the Winter Olympics. “It kind of just seemed like an unbelievable moment. It didn’t seem real at the time,” Jacobellis said.

To her fellow snowboarders, Jacobellis’s Olympic coronation was a delirious celebration for the godmother of the sport. (AP)