STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

“I believe this is now the world's largest collection of female alpine champions cast in full bronze,” said Mike Turzian.

The life-size sculpture, created by Boise sculptor Benjamin Victor, who has several sculptures in the nation’s Capitol, joins five other statues in the meadow honoring Sun Valley's Olympic and Paralympic medalists — Gretchen Fraser, Christin Cooper, Muffy Davis, Kaitlyn Farrington and Picabo Street.

"I just want young athletes to come and see this and smile, and say, ‘If those girls can do it, maybe I can do it too,’ " Corrock Luby told the crowd gathered for the unveiling. "I think that would be the most wonderful legacy that could ever, ever happen."

Susie Corrock Luby, in orange, shares a moment of exuberance with her family in front of the latest bronze to be added to Our Olympic Ladies row.

Sun Valley Mayor Peter Hendricks opened the ceremony, calling the meadow a place dedicated not only to celebrating extraordinary athletic achievements but the values behind them.

"These sculptures are more than works of art," Hendricks said. "They are lasting reminders that excellence deserves to be remembered, and that every generation has a responsibility to encourage the next. It tells every young person who passes through this meadow that greatness is possible, that hard work matters, and that this community believes in them."

The project has been an 11-year journey driven by Brian Barsotti, whose vision for the collection began on a road trip to the 2017 World Cup Finals in Aspen. Mike Turzian, who was in the car that day, recalled the moment.

"Michel Rudigoz and I were in the front seat discussing Michel's many accomplishments," Turzian said. "We started laughing about Brian's crazy idea about creating a full-size bronze of each of our valley's Olympic (medalist) ladies. We woke Brian from his deep sleep in the back of the car, and he asked us what was so funny. We told him, and he said, 'Because they deserve it,' and quickly fell back to sleep."

Susie Corrock Luby pulled off the parachute tarp covering the statue with the help of the kids in the family.

Barsotti, who kicked the venture off with not one, but two, statues of 1948 Olympic gold medalist Gretchen Fraser, said simply, "It's been a 10, 11-year journey, and it's a nice feeling (to have it done)."

Barsotti noted that sculpture Victor has done has been better than the one before.

"Yesterday, we were trying to put Susie together, and I called Suzy to see where she was," Barsotti said. "She said, 'I don't want to see it.' But she said to me, 'Does it look any good?' And I said, Carl Rixon, who was integral in helping us get these things set up, said to me, 'Each one gets better.' "

Three-time Olympian Picabo Street, who won gold in Super G at Nagano, Japan, in 1998 and silver in the Women’s Downhill at Lillehammer, Norway, in 1994, called the collection something deeply personal.

The statue depicts the ski boots that Susie Corrock wore during the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan. She found the same ones she wore--unused--for the statue on a vintage online site.

"My favorite times racing were when I shared the podium with my teammates," Street said. "Those were the best results. Those were the most memorable days. And to have this, and to be able to share it with my teammates — this is like sharing the podium perpetually with my teammates for the rest of our lives."

Street revealed she initially turned down the project, finding the permanence of bronze overwhelming.

"My father was a stonemason. And to build such permanent things that live in everyone's lives can be overwhelming," she said. "I think that sentiment is shared by every one of us ladies up here."

"Please spread the word," she added. "Tell everybody to come. Read the plaque. Take pictures. Pass it on. And most importantly, take a moment to take a deep breath, close your eyes, and let this inspire you like it does us."

Admirers check out the statue following the ceremony.

Then it was Corrock Luby’s turn.

Corrock Luby admitted the honor was far outside her comfort zone. While each of the six athletes has a different connection with the Wood River Valley, she said she always felt hers was more minimal than some of the others.

"I mean, Pic grew up here. Kaitlyn grew up here, Christin obviously had a big connection," she said. "Mine was different because I grew up in Seattle. But my parents moved here in 1970, and they never looked back. This was truly their home and, as a result it became, to a portion, my home."

That said, Corrock Luby said, she may, in fact, have been conceived during one of her parents’ ski vacations to Sun Valley. So, in that respect, she’s a native.

Her parents began vacationing in the valley in the 1950s, and in 1958, a young Susie took her very first ski lesson on Dollar Mountain with Janette Burr — another Olympian.

She pointed to the generational span now represented in the meadow, from Gretchen Fraser's 1948 gold medal through the 1970s, '80s, '90s and 2000s.

"I'm kind of the living matriarch of this at the moment," she said.

Corrock Luby grew emotional when she spoke of her late parents and the role they played in her Olympic journey.

"Without wonderful supportive parents who allow you to live your dream and support that dream, but don't push that dream — that's what made it all happen," she said. "I know my parents are looking down on this, and they're very proud. This is the greatest for me. This is a legacy to them and to my family."

She recalled what family friend Leroy Kingland once told her: "Suzy, if your dad were alive, he would take his lawn chair and he would sit in here every single day, and he would be telling everybody who all these people are. Because that's who he was."

"I'm honored, I'm privileged, and I'm completely humbled."

In a quieter conversation after the unveiling, Corrock Luby noted that the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, were on a much smaller scale than today’s Winter Olympics. She didn’t consider herself the best skier but she worked hard at it.

“But the pride, the intention, the determination are all the same," she said of then-versus-now. “And the older I get, the prouder I’ve become of what I accomplished. I wasn’t the best skier, but I was always a hard worker, and I think what I was able to accomplish is just a look into my soul and the purpose of it."

Corrock Luby purposefully chose a low-key life for herself following the Olympics.

"I consider my family my greatest adventure and my greatest success," she said. "I consider myself very fortunate to have a talent that puts me somewhere really special. But, truly and honestly, I just tried to lead a good life."

She looked over her shoulder at Bald Mountain.

“It’s an incredible ski mountain. I came here for ski racing camp, downhill camp, and I competed in the Western championships here. And,” she said with a twinkle in her eye, “As I’ve said before, I might never have been born if not for Sun Valley.”

WILL THERE BE MORE STATUES?

Brian Barsotti said he’s accomplished what he set out to do, although he might be coaxed into being part of an initiative to put up a statue honoring the late Dick Fosbury, who patented the Fosbury Flop with his gold medal high jump at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.

A group of hockey fans are trying to raise money for a statue honoring five-time Olympic hockey great Hilary Knight. And Sun Valley Mayor Peter Hendricks said he would love nothing more than to have statues honoring Sun Valley’s Olympians ring Champions’ Meadow.