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Michelle Gorgone
- 2006 U.S. Olympian in alpine snowboard
- Finished the 2005 World Cup season ranked sixth in the overall parallel giant slalom standings and first in the U.S. standings
- 2004 U.S. National champion in the parallel giant slalom; bronze medalist in 2003
- Placed 11th at the 2005 Worlds in parallel slalom and giant parallel slalom, becoming the top U.S. finisher in GPS
- Was a 2002 Olympic forerunner in parallel giant slalom at the Salt Lake Games
- Scored her career-best World Cup finish earning a silver medal at the end of the 2005 season
- Was the top U.S. finisher on the 2006 Olympic course finishing seventh
- Trained in Chile during the 2005 summer to take advantage of the snow in the Southern Hemisphere
- Won a bronze medal in 2003, silver in 2002 at the Junior World Championships for parallel giant slalom
- Started boarding at 12 – “I remember it was a rainy day and I kept falling down,” she said in her Home Depot profile. “I was soaking wet, but I didn’t give up and stayed on the hill all day and finally mastered it. I became hooked as of then.”
- Named Michelle Lynn as a compromise when her parents where not sure what to name her when a Michelin tire commercial came on TV … a coach heard the story and started calling her after an Italian racing tire, Pirelli, since she is of Italian descent
- Enjoys karaoke and wants to be the next "American Idol” – she tried out for the 2005 season where she was No. 7,990 of 8,000 and she sang “Chain of Fools”
- Absorbed up her Italian culture when she took an Italian course at Dartmouth College during the summer as part of the Hoyt Dartmouth Language Program for U.S. coaches and athletes
- Works at The Home Depot in the paint department in Natick, Mass.
- Is a huge Boston Red Sox fan and was able to watch the World Series on the Internet while she was competing in Europe
Gorgone is considered a top competitor on the U.S. parallel giant slalom team finishing the 2005 World Cup season with seven top-10 finishes winning two silver medals. She also had four top-3 finishes, winning two gold and two bronze medals, on the Nor-Am circuit in the 2005 season. “Our alpine riders are positioned to have another great year with Michelle Gorgone coming off her best season ever, and Chris Klug will be back and fired up after an injury last year,” Jeremy Forster, U.S. Snowboarding programs director said to skipressworld.com. “We are going to be focused and ready to put American riders on the Olympic podium this February in Torino.”
Related Links
Feature: Top 25 hopefuls to follow to Torino
Her thoughts on the Olympics: "Some of the freestyle snowboarders feel like you're a sellout if you go to the Olympics," said Gorgone to Globe Newspaper, "but I think the Olympics are cool."
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Height: 5’2”
Born: 10/18/1983
Hometown: Sudbury, Mass.
Resides: Cape Cod, Mass.
Sport: Snowboard
Event: Parallel Giant Slalom
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