Snowboarder and liver transplant recipient Chris Klug has had some memorable days the past four years.
There's the day he took to the giant slalom course at the 1998 Winter Games in Japan, marking snowboarding's first Olympic moment.
"It was so exciting for me and for our whole sport. I was so stoked on the start of our Olympic debut," he said. "Everyone had sick runs, just ripping it up. It looked great. It was a beautiful showcase for our first-ever Olympics."
Sitting in second place after the first run, Klug was poised to stand on the podium. The snowboard team manager was already telling him what to do at the medals ceremony.
The next day clouds rolled in, the slope turned to rock-hard ice and racers couldn't see five gates in front of them. Klug caught his arm on a gate early in his second run and wound up a disappointing sixth.
"No excuses," he said. "I just made a mistake and it cost me."
But those weren't the blackest clouds to darken the 29-year-old Aspen, Colo., resident's skies.
Klug, who suffered from the same rare liver disease that killed football great Walter Payton, found out in May 2000 he needed a transplant to save his life.
Three agonizing months later, July 28 to be exact, he received a new liver in a six-hour operation. Four months later, Klug was not only racing again but winning. He is the best U.S. hope for an Olympic medal in parallel giant slalom.
U.S. teammate Rosey Fletcher, the top medal contender on the women's side, says Klug's comeback is nothing short of amazing.
"It's just like the Lance Armstrong story. He just keeps getting stronger and you're like, 'What is it going to take to take this guy down?' And I don't think he can be taken down. It's definitely been an inspiration," she said.
Still one of the most intense competitors on the snowboard tour, Klug has tried to inject a little more fun into his riding. He often talks a little playful trash in the starthouse to lighten the mood.
Through all the up and downs the past four years, Klug goes back to that frustrating day in Nagano when he blew his chance at a medal.
"I think it's made me more determined than ever," he said. "Without a doubt it's one of the big goals of my career to win gold this February, and I think it's one of the big motivating factors that's kept me around."