Street Says Season-Ending Injury Will Help Motivate Her For 1998

Surrounded by flowers and gifts from friends and well-wishers, Picabo Street vowed the knee injury which abruptly ended her season will give her fresh motivation for the 1998 Olympics and beyond.

Street, 25, of Sun Valley, Idaho, tore ligaments in her left knee in a downhill training crash on Wednesday here. Although the season-ending injury will require surgery once the swelling subsides, Street already has begun rehabilitation.

The two-time defending World Cup downhill champion spent more than an hour Thursday at the Steadman-Hawkins Clinic and was encouraged by her workout.

“I did some motion exercises and rode the bike for about 15 minutes,” she said from a bed in her hotel room, an ice machine nearby to aid the reduction of swelling.

“Picabo did a little bit of motion workout,” said John Atkins of the Steadman-Hawkins staff.

U.S. Ski Team surgeon Dr. Richard Steadman, who plans to operate next week, predicted Street would be off snow for at least six months.