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Show WedThursFri, April 14-16, 2004 The Park Record B-5 Mosioskier celebrates breakout year Continued from B-1 her World Cup Globe victory earned her a spot for 2006. But qualifying for both the 2002 Paralympics and the upcoming 2006 Games has been a long, sometimes painful journey. Victor, a University of Southern California film school graduate, lost her legs when she was hit by a car in 1995. During the long weeks of recovery that followed, as she lay gazing out the hospital room window, win-dow, she made a decision. "I said to myself, Tf I get out of here, I'm not going back to a desk job," she remembers. "I was just always one of those people that, no matter what would try td make the best of it." After three years, in recovery, Victor came to Park' City in 1999 to help promote a Sundance Film Festival movie. At the suggestion of her brother, an avid skier who had encouraged her to try a monoski after the accident, Victor took time out from her theater duties to hit the slopes at Park City Mountain Resort. Her first lesson was with Marcel Kuonen, a former Swiss national ski team member. "There's no such thing as disabled skiing," he told her on their first ride up the lift. "There's only skiing." Instead of treating Victor's disability as an excuse, Kuonen urged her to view herself as no different that anybody any-body else on the mountain, she said. Throughout Victor's stay, she took more and more time to meet Kuonen on the mountain for lessons. 'T hardly saw any films," she confesses. confess-es. By the end of the festival, she agreed to' train for the 2002 Paralympics with him. "It was like the lights went on," she says of the decision. In the five years since then, she has trained 300 days a year and has quickly made a name for herself among her fellow skiers. "She's a very hard worker and very committed to what she's doing," Kuonen says. "She's eating and sleeping skiing. She's a very outstanding out-standing athlete." In 2002, Victor picked up a pair of slalom gold medals in Euro Cup events, as well as a first place in a World Cup giant slalom in France. In Wildschonau, she earned a bronze in downhill, a silver in super-G and a gold in slalom. - Technically not a member of the U.S. team, Victor's points still helped boost the national team's point totals this season, for which she says she was warmly thanked by several U.S? ' coaches. Still, Victor says she is far from being an expert. Comparing mono-skiing mono-skiing to martial arts, she said she may be a first-degree black belt, but there are still several degrees left to earn. "Mastery is not achieved easily. I believe that is true with anything," she says. "Everything we've done up to this point has been about building that strong foundation." From the beginning, Deer Valley and Rossignol have sponsored Victor's efforts, and she gives a large part of the credit to them and to all the family and friends that have supported sup-ported her. "It's so great to have that support. I wouldn't have done it on my own," she says, adding that she will probably proba-bly never frame the gold, silver and bronze medals that she won in Wildschonau. She always wants them to be free for visitors to handle and try on, since it was their support that helped win them in the first place, she says. "That's why we get medals. It's something we share." Victor gives the most credit to Kuonen. "To everyone else's eye, I was a lump of coal," she says. "He saw the diamonds inside." As a film student, Victor had a . professor who rebuked her class for not having enough "life experience" , ' , till W I! iWiiiM lb iiiil 1 4 I-: 0 GRAYSON WESV PARK RECORD Local monoskier Stephani Victor, top, collected a gold, a silver and a bronze medal at the World Championships in Wildschonau, Austria in February. to draw on to make meaningful movies, she says. Since the accident and her shift in focus, Victor says she has plenty of experiences that have helped her not only as a skier or filmmaker, but as an example to others. "I feel lucky that I get to do what I do," she says. "What I want to show people in my skiing or in my film is that we all have a lot to be thankful for." - . x. . 0k ; 0 ! . ... . ".- r' t "Or. fJi how i . ' f ; li y , it it "ji fc2 tt i " -m.t a rte warli W'B OKTSiti-nr o blft-f. jt Twr t .j-.' X"S;'iy.JBr.-,i ; ,'u,!e,ii;yecr.,jrtJ.lrk!." Iff iBV r m 'M ... Jfo im tii in ..iM AV.Kii i'. :& Ill ?i1tl " iTlfT-i i III' 'llf ii! ""Udi Mil miidiiM ii' tun(" ' ' i hi ' iif a iaa titt ooo o oo t0 too eofl r 435-649-4949 www.aii,com remember don't Drink and Drive USE THE FREE Bus Service! Stop jWBppW IP'trw"' s ' .yv, .m - 1 1 ' 'i .. ' r' ; " v. ' . PLAC:3 ON MSUTTAIN r: ." fY 'J 3 - i rm r- m mm . - - Jt ' . . ' j. To- :..tv,,'i' :b"";-)r , v r - - s , " - - V - i- ' - L-. i.r. V.. i j . F.iftTc ..r"!?"jidesc!jnshow , i lilt. ( !"! 1 ' J ! ".P IV. II 3 : C liffrti'iiiiiMaviiiivlr'., 5 : 3 ! i 3 |