In one of the most stirring descents in Olympic downhill skiing history, Linsey Vonn ignored the pain in her injured shin, chased down Julia Mancuso and caught up to nearly a lifetime of expectations to become the first American woman to win an Olympic downhill gold medal.

The American Olympics machine (NBC) has been pumping out stories of Lindsey Vonn’s courage to compete with a bruised shin which, if nothing else, will increase her marketability. We were also treated late last week to a story of Lindsey’s alternative therapy for her bruised shin, CHEESE. She wraps her shin in cheese. My questions are these; If you were an executive with Visa, Red Bull, Audi, Head, Haus, Spyder Thinsulate, Sprint, Reusch, Telus, Lieka, or Uvex, wouldn’t you want to protect your sponsorship investment and object to this therapy? How did her Wikipedia entry get updated within 3 minutes of her victory without the requisite 24 hours clearing time? How did she shoot the Sports Illustrated Vancouver Swimsuit video with a bruised shin? Just asking.