Going into the Sochi Olympics, Julia Mancuso is the American woman skier with the most medals.
She earned two silver medals in 2010 in addition to a gold in 2006. Since 2002, when she was 17 years old, she has met the requirements for every Olympics.
She is best known for her brief but widely reported feud with Lindsey Vonn in 2010, but she is also one of the more intriguing characters you’ll meet in Sochi.
Julia Mancuso Parents: Meet Ciro Mancuso, Andrea Mancuso Webber
Mancuso, who is of Italian ancestry, was born in Reno, Nevada, and raised near Lake Tahoe as the middle sister among three sisters, sitting between older sister April and younger sister Sara. When Julia was five years old, her father Ciro Mancuso was detained at the family home and later found guilty of running a $140 million marijuana smuggling operation.
Julia “took everything out on the slopes,” according to her mother Andrea (née Tuffanelli), after her parents’ 1992 divorce. Julia and her father grew closer following his release from prison in 2000. Because of his assistance with the authorities in proceedings against other accused organization members and Mancuso’s attorney Patrick Hallinan, Ciro’s sentence was significantly reduced.
Ciro Mancuso received permission from the government to keep $5 million of the revenues from his human trafficking enterprise in exchange for his aid.