Lindsey Jacobellis’ silver lining

Reporting from Vancouver, Canada — 

It was, unfortunately, all about the method.

Method acting?

Not exactly. But there was a method behind Lindsey Jacobellis’ decision to method grab on the second-to-last jump of the snowboard cross course at the Winter Olympics four years ago.

With the gold medal thisclose, she fell, but nevertheless had the presence to gather herself, get up and make the podium, winning a silver medal at Turin, Italy.

The ensuing, and fierce, reaction was an interesting case study. You would have thought she did something like shooting at her own basket to try to get a rebound to secure a triple-double in the NBA playoffs. In some quarters, it played into the hands of reinforcing the stereotype of a showboating snowboarder.

But, in others, her snow-cred skyrocketed. Some asked: What was so wrong about a woman staying true to the sport’s roots?

“I felt for her because I would have done the same thing, maybe throw in a little method there,” said U.S. Olympic snowboarding teammate, teenager Faye Gulini. “When she went down it was unfortunate for her.

“We’ve all done it. Just not in the Olympics.”

Peter Foley, coach of the U.S. snowboarding team, has a vision for what he would like to see Tuesday in the women’s snowboard cross final at Cypress Mountain.

“It would be sweet if she pulled a method off the last jump and stuck it this time,” Foley said.

He smiled and then laughed, saying: “But I doubt you’ll see that.”

About as good a chance of a blizzard hitting Cypress Mountain.

The loss and the tough reviews stung Jacobellis at the time, but she comes into the Vancouver Olympics widely considered the favorite -- well, at least as much as one can be in the often crash-marred sport.

Jacobellis prepped by winning the Winter X Games at Aspen in January despite getting banged up in a big melee earlier in the month at an event in Switzerland. (“All of a sudden you feel like all right you’re in the clear and then you’re smushed like a mushroom in Mario,” she says, laughing.)

You could easily say snowboard cross can be like a video game. That is, a video game, only on snow, with riders operating like race cars on the San Diego Freeway.

Meanwhile, she also worked on how to answer the inevitable questions about the method grab.

“I know I’m going to get this question, like, a zillion more times,” Jacobellis said in Aspen. “So that’s what I’m rolling with.”

To that end, she thought she might have made a mistake by “overhyping” the Olympics.

“I was pretty young then,” said Jacobellis, now 24. “You don’t want a sport to take control of you that early and at an age, because then what do you have to look forward to?

“Now I have to look forward to how much I’ve raised the level of women’s snowboard cross and I definitely have gone into history for that.”

That day in Aspen, Jacobellis was chatting with two reporters a couple of days before her event. As predicted, the questions about the method grab did come here in Vancouver and she was slightly more expansive about the gaffe after the formal part of the news conference ended Wednesday afternoon, saying she had been upset with herself four years ago.

“But what is a loss? Is that the worst thing that could possibly happen?” Jacobellis asked.

She answered her own question.

“No. You have to put everything in perspective and be thankful and appreciative where you are and what you’ve accomplished,” Jacobellis said.

A lot has changed for Jacobellis, and the sport in the last four years.

She was the only woman on the snowboard cross team in 2006, and now is joined by the 17-year-old Gulini and Alaskan Callan Cythlook-Sifsof.

Still, the years of often being the only woman on the course put down a good foundation for Jacobellis, according to men’s snowboard cross rider Graham Watanabe.

“It’s pretty insane. She’ll tell anybody that she trains with the guys. And I think that’s one of the biggest reasons for her success,” said Watanabe, who is competing in the Olympics. “From her early days riding with her brother and then making the team when she was really the only girl.

“I’ve trained with her before and I’ll cross the finish line to see where she is and she is right behind us. It’s still a growing sport, especially on the women’s side. And she’s leading that charge.”

Her toughest competitors here are expected to be Maelle Ricker of Canada and Helene Olafsen of Norway, who placed second at the X Games. Jacobellis avoided a big crash in the semifinals in Aspen.

She joked about producing spectacular results, win or lose.

“When I crash, I like to crash hard,” Jacobellis said. “It’s not my ideal thing to do. I don’t just do a little wimpy, like, oh she did a little sluff and she’s down on her butt. It’s a yard sale -- it was full on, like, ‘Oh man, a Lindsey wreck.’ ”

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

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