Injured Olympian gets big air in big-cat costume for kicks

By JAKE SEINER
AP Sports Writer

BEIJING (AP) — French snowboarder Lucile Lefevre helped Beijing ring in the Year of the Tiger by putting on an orange-and-black big-cat costume during qualifying in women’s big air and miming a pair of claws while some 20 feet off the ground. Lefevre decided a year ago that the Beijing Olympics would be her last snowboarding competition. She then hurt her knee during last week’s slopestyle event. The injury prevented her from trying any tricks coming down the 155-foot big air ramp but she still wanted to participate. So she borrowed a head-to-toe tiger suit from Swiss snowboarder Nicolas Huber to add a little flair to her otherwise straight-forward jumps.