Prior to winning Olympic gold medal for snowboard cross, Maelle Ricker’s knees have been through eight surgeries-three on the left and five on the right. Maelle, who is 31-years-old, has contributed to the emergence of women’s snowboard cross. At 19-years-old she helped usher snowboarding into the Olympics at the Nagano Games where she came in 5th in the half-pipe event. She was unable to compete in the 2002 games due to knee problems, and in the 2006 games she crashed early in the snowboard cross final, landing hard on her back and suffering a concussion. Now, 12-years later, she has the gold she set out for so many years ago.