What Did Thomas Tell Lindsey?
Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso, who Wednesday won the Olympic gold and silver respectively, have been skiing rivals since they were 12. Lindsey is the Barbara to Julia's Jenna. Julia is known as a party girl who never leaves home without her Guitar Hero and karaoke set, eats Pop Tarts for breakfast, and skips out of training to surf in Hawaii. She owns her own underwear line, called "Kiss My Tiara." She once portrayed Lindsey as the Tracey Flick of the slopes :
She treats skiing a little more like a job. It doesn't always look like fun. I mean, it does when she wins, but when she's not winning, it doesn’t look so fun. I know Lindsey loves to ski, but it's regimented. She is following a plan, like something on a piece of paper.
Yesterday, at the top of the slope before her run, Lindsey's husband Thomas called her on a walkie-talkie. What did he say, the ever-curious Bob Costas asked her after the medal ceremony? "He told me Julia had skiied a really good run, so, that really got me going, you know, like I had to have an exceptional run." He told her Julia had a good run? Now that's some unusual, and possibly gender-specific coaching, or at least coaching as inspired by Gossip Girls or the Real Housewives . Want to get a girl juiced? Tell her that her main, lifelong rival did a great job.