She was the highest U.S. finisher, but it was in 10th place. Bahrke entered the 2005-06 World Cup season on the mend. She missed the entire 2004-05 season after injuring her right knee in preseason training, and sat out half of the 2003-04 season with a fractured jaw after it slammed into her ski pole during a race

A bronze medalist in the non-Olympic dual moguls event at the 2003 World Championships, Bahrke placed fourth in the Olympic-contested moguls event at that competition. During that 2002-03 season, Bahrke claimed three World Cup wins en route to the World Cup moguls title.

In Salt Lake, Bahrke finished just .88 of a point behind gold medalist Kari Traa  of Norway (watch video). But the fact that Bahrke was competed at the Games was an accomplishment in itself. In August 1999, a staph infection attacked her bloodstream, and doctors initially didn't think she'd be able to return to elite-level skiing. But remarkably, Bahrke was back on the snow three months later, and proceeded to establish herself among the top skiers in the world. Her silver medal at the 2002 Games was the first American medal of the Games. "I can't believe I'm on the podium," she said afterward (Bahrke on winning silver).

Nicknamed "Sparky Bahrke" because of her effervescent personality, Bahrke generally has a big smile on her face, even right before she's about to take a moguls run. She grew up in Tahoe City, Calif., and was an alpine racer in high school "just to get out of class," she says. Bahrke says she won her first moguls contest in eighth or ninth grade and made the U.S. freestyle team in 1998-99. Her younger brother Scotty also is a freestyle skier on the U.S. team, though he's an aerialist and not expected to compete in Torino.