WHISTLER, British Columbia — Julia Mancuso stepped onto the podium and adjusted her tiara before accepting the flowers being handed to her for winning her second silver medal in two days.
"It's just about celebrating your inner princess," she said of the tiny silver crown. "My coach gave it to me as a gag gift four years ago and ever since then I've raced with it."
Now her fans, mother and sisters all sport the tiaras as they cheer for the Squaw Valley (Calif.) native who has grabbed the alpine spotlight with a pair of silver medals in the first two races of the 2010 Games. Mancuso becomes the only U.S. female skier to earn three Olympic medals. U.S. men's team legend Bode Miller also owns three Olympic medals.
Mancuso, who graduated from the Park City Winter School, won silver in the women's downhill Tuesday and silver in the super-combined Wednesday. Mancuso's teammate Lindsey Vonn, who won gold on Tuesday, was leading the competition when she caught a gate and fell on her second run.
"I gave it my best," said Vonn, who is still nursing a painful leg injury. "I skied well in the downhill and I thought I was skiing well in the top of the slalom, but it just wasn't my day. So I'm going to really use this time this afternoon and tomorrow to get my shin feeling as good as it can be and, hopefully, use this race as motivation for the next race."
Germany's Maria Riesch won the event with a time of 2:09.14 for two runs. Mancuso's time was .94 seconds behind Riesch, and Sweden's Anja Paerson, who crashed Tuesday, won bronze with a time of 2:10.19.
Injuries have kept Mancuso off the podium in international competition for the last two years.
"These Olympic Games, for me, has been just put everything else behind me," she said after Thursday's silver medal. "I have struggled with a back injury last year, and I really struggled to get top 30.
"So the beginning of this World Cup season, I've been a little nervous because I knew that I really wanted to be back in the top 15 and have a good start number for the races. So I've kind of spent a little more time focusing on wanting to finish and sort of make building steps, baby steps instead of just go all out every race. And really, all of those moments, it's all just been to come here and perform."
Even though her last podium was at Whistler two years ago, Mancuso always knew what she was capable of accomplishing.
"It just goes to show that you really can do anything you put your mind to," said Mancuso of her Olympic success. "Just really believe in yourself."
Mancuso now has a line of lingerie called "Kiss my Tiara" that she sells to benefit her favorite charities. She makes no apologies for who she is, and that confidence and freedom, her friends say, is what makes her such a great skier when it counts.
"I found my slalom somewhere, it's been hiding," she said with a grin. "I was nervous in the start but I was also really excited and I knew that it was all or nothing. So I went out there and I gave it my all. And I crossed the finish line after having a mistake to see that I was in first and it really was just joy and amazement.
"I expected that I would get the bronze medal because I knew Lindsey (Vonn), she is a better slalom skier than me. She's proved that. It's unfortunate that she went down, but when I realized that I got another medal, it was just this crazy. It's that moment that you wait for as an athlete. It's the moment that you realize that I've been working so hard for this moment and to know that really anything's possible. I didn't expect that for myself and I just believed and went for it."
Mancuso is enjoying a little of the limelight that has belonged to Vonn for so long.
"Though you see Lindsey (Vonn) getting a lot of media attention, she really does deserve it," said Mancuso. "She's had an incredible career so far, winning two overalls and having 30-plus World Cup wins. That's pretty impressive, so she deserves the attention.
"I think that our ski team in general deserves a little more attention because a lot of the media is all about Lindsey and I think we have a lot of great girls on our ski team."
With two of he world's most resilient and accomplished skiers, both women agree, the U.S. Team is tough to beat.
"I think Americans perform well under pressure," said Vonn after she and Mancuso won gold and silver on Tuesday. "I think we're game-day athletes. We don't hold anything back. It's the Olympics, everyone here has a lot of pressure on them. I always feel like Americans seem to be able to come out on top. We're free-spirited and determined people."
e-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com