Thirty-four years after she burst into national consciousness with two brilliant ski runs in Sarajevo, everything is right in Debbie Armstrong's world.
She not only understands her place in history, but she embraces it.
Armstrong, who grew up in Seattle, went to the 1984 Winter Olympics as a big longshot and left as a national sensation, on the cover of Sports Illustrated after winning the giant slalom and giving the U.S. women their first gold medal in alpine skiing in 12 years.
Armstrong always has seemed to thrive in big moments and has proved to be quite the fighter, whether it was defeating a life-threatening illness or, more recently, coming to grips and coping with traumatic brain injury.
So if Armstrong, 54, never has another athletic moment to compare with what happened on that magical day in 1984, that's fine with her. She has a history degree from University of New Mexico, a job she loves _ helping train talented young skiers in Colorado _ a 10-year-old daughter who has taken up the sport and peace.
"I couldn't be happier with my life," she said.
And she had an experience in 1984 few in this world can relate to.
