48 Days

2407 athletes competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. Only 48 of them were women. And women's gymnastics, which is one of the most popular Summer Olympic events today, was only a demonstrative sport. At the 2010 Winter Olympics, all sports besides ski jumping will have both a men's and women's field. The female ski jumpers who were fighting to compete in the Olympics just lost their final battle with the Canadian courts, so their fight is now over.

Lindsey Vonn, formerly Lindsey Kildow before she got married, had a major crash on an alpine downhill training run at the Winter Olympics in Turino in 2006 and had to be immediately helicoptered to a nearby hospital. Just 48 hours later, she was back in skis, competing in the women's downhill event and placed eighth. Because of her gutsy performance there, her fellow American athletes, her fans and members of the media awarded her the 2006 U.S. Olympic spirit award. Vonn is definitely a medal contender at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver.