Skiing's Golden Rule

She raced to a 1988 Olympic gold, ten World Championship golds, and 19 U.S. National Event championships, all on one leg. Along the way Diana Golden '84 raised disabled skiing and disabled sports in general to unprecedented heights.

Having lost her leg to bone cancer at the age of 12, she developed strength and balance so keen that she abandoned the outrigger ski poles most disablec skiers use. It was Golden's way of pushing a new idea: that disabled skiers be allowed to compete in any race. Her own world-class skiing provided evidence that they could. In 1985 the U.S. Ski Association passed the "Golden Rule," which reserves places for disabled skiers at the end of the top seeds in all races. Soon after, the U.S. Disabled Ski Team began requiring its skiers to race in at least five non-disabled events a year.

In 1988 Golden earned the U.S. Olympic Committee's ultimate honor for any woman racer: Female Skier of the Year. "She will be most significantly remembered," says sports writer Meg Lukens, "as the woman who, perhaps more than any other athlete, brought crossover credibility to the disabledsports movement."

Golden lost her leg and brought disabled sports to a new peak.