PRAGUE (AP) — Ester Ledecka, the only woman to win gold in two different sports at the same Winter Olympics, has made a tough choice for for the Milan-Cortina Games.

The Czech standout is skipping the Alpine downhill event in order to seek a third straight Olympic gold in snowboarding's giant slalom after all efforts failed to avoid a scheduling conflict. With the two competitions taking place the same day, she simply can't compete in both.

The 30-year-old lodged an unsuccessful appeal to the International Olympic Committee with support from Johan Eliasch, the head of skiing's governing body FIS.

“I cried a bit few times about it, but we did the best we could,” Ledecka said Monday. “I understand that it’s not easy to coordinate the program but I believed that it could be done. I’m the

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