Lindsey Jacobellis
Snowboarding Cross
United States
It was, by far, the biggest gaffe of the Torino Olympics. During the final in the snowboard cross, an exciting new Olympic event in which boarders race one another down a twisty, bumpy mountain, Jacobellis was comfortably ahead. But on the second-to-last jump, she showboated for the cameras, grabbing her board with her hand in midair. She tumbled on the landing, Tanja Frieden of Switzerland passed her, and Jacobellis recovered just in time to finish second. To the media and many fans, Jacobellis' mistake was off-putting enough; her nonchalant attitude about her screwup stirred a mountain of disbelief. Jacobellis, 25, eventually became humbled by the incident and knows there's unfinished business in Vancouver. Of the showboating, Jacobellis told the Associated Press, "That won't happen again."