Headlines the world over are ripping Lindsey Jacobellis to shreds this morning after another loss in snowboardcross. Fair or not, one has to think all this negative attention would be leading to her death by a thousand cuts.

But one would be wrong.

Let's review for a second: Jacobellis arrives at the Turin Olympics in 2006 as a favorite to win the exciting new sport of snowboardcross. She proceeds to dominate the competition and grabs a hefty lead in the final when self-imposed disaster strikes.

With the finish line in view -- the gold medal in her hand -- she elects to do a little showboating off the final jump by trying a method grab and takes a tumble. As she's climbing to her feet she's passed, yet she salvages a shiny silver medal to show her grandkids.

OK. Enough history. Now the pop quiz. Had Jacobellis not fallen so foolishly in 2006 do you think we'd even know who she is today? Wait. Let me answer that question with a question. Do you remember who passed her and won the gold? Me neither. But I get paid to cover this stuff. At least you have an excuse.

Mine is this: Let's face facts. We love our losers in the Olympics. The agony of defeat is much more agonizing when one has to wait four more years just to have a shot at correcting the error. Waiting sucks. Time is worse than gravity. We don't have the technology to beat it yet. The Olympics are one of our greatest reminders of this...and that's why we watch.

Of course wins are great. But life's most powerful lessons involve pain. And we prefer other people endure that pain for us. Another reason to love the Games.

But lose just the right way in the Olympics and it can be pretty profitable. Visa, Kellogg's Frosted Flakes and Dunkin Donuts have been lining up to throw money at Jacobellis in the buildup to the Vancouver Games.

Compare that to, say, I don't know, Seth Wescott, who made the very unprofitable decision to cross the finish line first during his 2006 run in Turin. Man, how dumb is that guy? He just won again the other day. He even became the first snowboarder to win back-to-back gold medals. Which means give it another day or two and he'll disappear.

But Jacobellis? Nah, we're stuck with her for at least four more years. Because like I said, in the Olympics, the biggest losers win.

Photo: Squire via Getty Images

Seth Wescott made snowboarding history today by becoming the first to win back-to-back gold medals in any discipline. The racing was exciting from start to finish, but these are what I consider the five most significant subplots to the action.

1.Second place isn't in the spotlight, but it is in the hunt: Seth Wescott has been lurking in the shadows ever since winning a gold medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics. For the past four years he's been a perennial runner-up in World Cup and X Games competitions. People forget the runner-up and winners get the headlines. But when somebody is finishing on the podium as consistently as Wescott, you can never count them out. He raced very smart Monday. He stayed within himself and let the others make mistakes. He wasn't trying to win the race during the first few features. He played it cool and waited for the perfect moment to take over the lead. That's his experience paying off, and that's why he's now the first snowboarder to win back-to-back gold medals.

2.Conditions aren't ideal, but they are the same for everyone: The conditions at Cypress Mountain are as challenging as everybody expected. But that's never an excuse for losing, since everyone is dealing with the same issues. But the soft conditions made life very difficult for guys in the turns. In good conditions turns are an opportune time to pass, but that clearly wasn't the case Monday. Just surviving the turns was the secret. Most of the heavy favorites who went down early ran into trouble by being too aggressive in the turns. Most of the successful passes came in the flats and over the jumps. That's something Lindsey Jacobellis should consider as she prepares for her races Tuesday.

3. The harder they fall: France's Pierre Vaultier was the most talented snowboardcross rider coming into the Vancouver Games. He has dominated the World Cup circuit this year, which includes many of the riders competing in the Olympics. But in the quarterfinals Monday he made an error trying to pass in the turn and got tangled up with his teammate, Tony Ramoin. After that he was stuck in traffic with very little momentum and his race was done. Nate Holland made a similar error by putting it all on the line in the turns during the final. The five-time X Games winner will have to wait four years to get his shot at Olympic gold.

4.What didn't surprise me: Nate Holland and Pierre Vaultier were the biggest names coming into this event. Call their losses shocking if you want, but they're not surprising. That's the beauty of snowboardcross. It's a heart-pounding sport where anything can happen. Upsets are a way of life. The smallest mistake can cost you, but at the same time, as Wescott showed us in the final, a rider can begin the top section in last place and finish first. I love it.

5. What did surprise me: Frankly, I was blown away with the level of racing Monday. Four years ago there was a pretty significant gap between the top riders and everyone else. Monday, all 32 riders who qualified impressed me. There were very few runaway wins, and I saw a lot of guys step their games up to new levels. Italy's Stefano Pozzolini and Tony Ramoin of France are perfect examples. Their performances are a clear sign of how levels are rising in snowboardcross everywhere. I think this is a direct result of this sport being embraced around the world.

Snowboardcross:
This will be an exciting battle for the men. Naturally, a lot will depend on how the brackets line up, but when the final run goes I expect to see France's Pierre Vaultier and American Seth Wescott battling for gold in the final along with U.S. teammates Nate Holland and Graham Watanabe. Even though he's not exactly a favorite at this point, I'm picking Wescott, the 2006 gold medalist, to surprise everyone and repeat here in Vancouver. Wescott has a way of stepping up in big moments.

On the women's side, I'm confident American Lindsey Jacobellis will bury her famous mistake of the past in style. For the record, I hope she goes for a giant method air again this year while winning just to silence all of the critics once and for all.

Halfpipe:
There's been a lot of talk about a U.S. men's sweep of the medal stand in halfpipe this year, but injuries have had a real impact on the depth of the American squad. The chances of them owning the podium are still real, but definitely more difficult than first thought. At the end of the day I do believe Switzerland's Louri "iPod" Podlactchikov will find his way to the podium. If not him, then Japan's Kazuhiro "Kazu" Kokubo. Both iPod and Kazu made the podium at X Games by riding very well, and I've been really impressed with their performances. This is obviously American Shaun White's event to lose, but should he stumble in the tricky conditions, my upset pick for gold will be Scotty Lago.

As for the women, I'm hearing more and more rumblings of Australia's Torah Bright going for a double cork. If true, she'd be the only women to incorporate it, and if she lands one clean, it's over. Just run up and hand her the gold medal. But if conditions don't provide her the comfort she needs to go for it, this will turn into a real battle, and in that case I'm going to give American and 2002 gold medalist Kelly Clark the edge here, because I think she's got a few tricks up her sleeve.

Parallel Giant Slalom:
The Americans will have a tough time in this discipline, which is dominated by the Europeans. Austria's Benjamin Karl and Andreas Prommegger have been dominating the FIS World Cup circuit, and I see no reason why that won't continue here. But I do expect American Chris Klug to end his Olympic career on the podium. Klug has proven time and again that he has a knack for finding a way.

"It's the only medal that I don't have," Nate Holland declared, still breathless after winning his fifth consecutive gold medal at Saturday afternoon's Winter X Games 14 in Aspen, Colo.

"Definitely my number one goal going into Vancouver is to win it." Holland adds, "I mean -- Olympic gold -- C'mon. You gotta go for it."

"Going for it" has always been one of Holland's specialties. The 31-year-old is a true veteran of the sport. Becoming the first ever Winter X Games champion to win five gold medals is a testament to his all-in approach.

But that same approach lost him an Olympic medal at Torino, Italy, in 2006.

"Torino was... ugh, Olympic dreams shattered." Holland told us during an interview we did with him last month.

"All it took was just a millisecond of my concentration to be broken," he said of the fall that cost him a victory. Shaking his head, he then added, "As soon as I fell in Torino I [was] like 'Well... Vancouver here I come. Four more years.'"

Indeed, Holland is on his way to Vancouver. But the deja vu from 2006 is starting to sink in.

Just a week and a half before Holland headed to Torino he competed in the 2006 Winter X Games XII, winning his first X Games gold medal. After that, Holland was the favorite to win in Torino. His 14th-place finish was a major disappointment to himself and to his country.

This time around he seems more comfortable with the pressure. "I know what to expect with media, security, even Secret Service popping up out of nowhere," he says. "All I can do is ride my heart out and see where I land, hopefully on top of that podium. I've been able to turn all those butterflies in my stomach into positive energy now."

Holland will join Graham Watanabe, Nick Baumgartner and 2006 Olympic snowboardcross gold-medalist Seth Wescott on the men's U.S. snowboardcross team this year. "It was a huge battle to make this men's SBX team," said Peter Foley, the U.S. snowboarding head coach. "Vancouver is going to be an incredible fight for the podium, and our guys are ready for it."

Though Wescott has an Olympic gold medal, he's never won gold at the X Games, despite seven appearances on the podium. For the past five games he's been playing second fiddle to Holland, including Saturday in Aspen, Colo. "Always the bridesmaid," Wescott joked during the post-race interview.

Whether Holland can carry his momentum all the way up to and through Vancouver will be determined on Feb. 15, when the Olympic snowboardcross men's competition will kick off at Cypress Mountain.