Julia Mancuso

Competitive skier Julia Mancuso's positivity and dedication led her on the path to four Olympic medals, a record achievement for U.S. women's alpine skiing. She was born in Reno, Nev., on March 9, 1984, and was skiing by the age of two. She eventually took up racing and learned she had a natural talent for the sport, going on to win a record-setting total of five gold and three bronze medals in the Junior World Championships. In 2006, she won a gold medal in her debut appearance at the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Mancuso won three more medals -- two silver and one bronze -- in the two subsequent games. She was a strong contender in multiple World Championships, scoring five medals. She drew upon a winning attitude and combined dietary and meditative techniques to boost her performance on the slopes. However, intense pain due to hip dysplasia sidelined her at the end of the 2015 season and she was forced to have surgery. While recovering off the slopes, Mancuso refused to become discouraged and she worked hard to physically and emotionally prepare herself to return to her beloved sport in time for the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. On her 30th birthday, Mancuso took a vacation to Fiji and met Dylan Fish, a surfer and resort manager. The two fell in love and married in 2016. Mancuso owned and operated a fitness facility in Truckee, Calif., called the Performance Training Center.