STREET CURVES SLIGHTLY TO THE RIGHT.

Byline: PAUL OBERJUERGE

SALT LAKE CITY - Another stereotype bites the dust.

Flower children, especially the children of flower children ... counter- culture all the way, right? My country (is rarely) right or (more likely) wrong.

Then there is Picabo Street, two-time Olympic skiing medalist.

Street has impeccable counter-culture credentials. Her parents, Stubby and Dee Street, were 1960s hippies who turned on, tuned in and dropped out, moving to a ghost town in Idaho to get back to the land. They raised their own livestock and crops. They didn't buy a television.

When they had a daughter, she was born in their home. And they didn't give her a name; they intended for her to pick her own when she got older. They called her ``Little Girl,'' but the folks at passport control weren't amused when they attempted to travel to Mexico; the feds insisted the red-headed 2-year-old needed a name to get a passport.

So Dee and Stubby settled on Picabo, the name of another Idaho town, also a American Indian word meaning ``shining waters,'' and pronounced it peek-a-boo - like the children's game, which ``Little Girl'' liked to play.

We flash forward nearly three decades, and Picabo Street still isn't quite Middle America in tastes and lifestyle. But when it comes to flag- waving - or bearing - she is as red, white and blue as the Fourth of July.

Street over the past few weeks has taken the unusual tack of campaigning to be the flag-bearer ahead of the U.S. team when it enters the stadium during opening ceremonies Friday.

Failing that, she would love to be one of the eight American athletes chosen to carry the ``9-11'' flag, the one that was flying at the World Trade Center when it was destroyed by terror attack. The tattered WTC flag will come in after the U.S. athletes and be run up above the stadium.

``Maybe we can make our military abroad smile,'' Street said. Honest to goodness, she did.

And did we mention the helmet she will wear when she competes in the downhill race Monday? It will be red, white and blue, with the Statue of Liberty painted on one side, and a picture of an F-16, a U.S. military aircraft, on the other.

Go figure. But that's where Dee-and-Stubby's daughter is at just now.

``It will be a patriotic evening, and we will give every American something pure and fresh,'' she said, referring to the opening ceremonies.

Picabo, a nation salutes you. And from what you said here Wednesday night, you probably would return the salute.

Do not, however, think Picabo suddenly is as straight as Laura Bush. At age 30 she still can run a line of hip patter. ``At Lillehammer, some dude offered me three-grand, cash, for my coat because it was so rad.''

She still names her skis. For the downhill, she will choose between Arnolds, Jomo, Chacho, Ernst and Uncle Leo. Named after, respectively, Arnold Schwarzenegger (apparently), her brother Baba's dog, something her friend ``came up with after he'd had one or two,'' a former coach and a hill.

And for technical events, she has ``Tony'' (as in Tiger), ``Willis'' (because they will turn) and Wally (because she uses them so rarely they usually remain leaned against the wall).

Picabo Street has been a hoot, no question. She burst into our consciousness by winning a silver medal at Lillehammer in 1994, then came back with a gold in the Super-G at Nagano in 1998. She was the World Cup downhill season champion in 1995 and 1996, the world's fastest woman on skis.

All along she had her sunny and goofy family around, and stories of her random childhood in Idaho, and she told us all about it at about 100 mph.

Which is also about how fast she likes to go on skis. Her bravado, in tandem with the innate danger of the sport, led to a series of ugly injuries (blown knees, a shattered leg), setbacks Picabo fought through over and again.

Monday's downhill will be the last race of her career. ``I've visualized it all sorts of ways,'' she said. ``Winning gold would be like Michael Jordan making that 3-point shot. Then I've got visions where I get into the fence, and I have to back that one up and start over ...''

She is a long shot to win; she hasn't quite come back to speed from her latest knee surgery (November, 2000), ``but it's the downhill, so anything can happen.''

Like a good child of flower children, she ``believes in destiny.'' But she also talks about how her race ``is in God's hands.''

Picabo Street, would-be flag-bearer, and religious, too.

Kids these days; what are you going to do with them?

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Photo:

The patriotic side of skier Picabo Street has flowered entering the Winter Olympics.

Dave Buston/Associated Press