Four-time U.S. Olympian Sarah Schleper stood in the starting gate of the giant slalom race at the Alpine World Championships in Beaver Creek on Thursday, ready to spring. Unlike the other Americans competing at the event, Schleper wore a race suit styled after a mariachi uniform, down to the faux bolero jacket and crimson cummerbund. She let out her signature pre-race roar and launched out of the gate.聽

It鈥檚 the seventh time the 35-year-old skier has competed in the championships, and her first time representing Mexico.聽It鈥檚 an unusual turn for an American-born聽skier. Schleper retired from the elite U.S. Ski Team in 2011, largely due to her desire to spend time with her family and flagging attention from her coach, she says. The U.S. team鈥檚 travel and training schedule is pretty much non-stop, and Schleper wanted to ski in a way that wouldn鈥檛 monopolize her life. Even before her final world cup run for the U.S. team, in Austria in 2011, Schleper had started the process of becoming a Mexican citizen, with the intent to join the country’s ski team. Initially, she had hoped to compete in last year’s Sochi Olympics, but her paperwork didn’t come through in time. This week’s races marked her debut for Mexico.

“I felt like I had completed my career with the U.S. Ski Team. Mikaela [Shiffrin] was coming up really strong, and as an older athlete, you know, it鈥檚 hard to get beat a lot,鈥� Schleper says. 鈥淎nd it was a struggle. I didn鈥檛 want to struggle my last years.鈥� As skiers on the U.S. Ski Team age, the team鈥檚 resources often shift towards bolstering the younger talent, like Shiffrin.

Mexico鈥檚 is a team, by contrast, that is much more low-key. In fact, Schleper is one-half of the roster, and she arranges her own coaching, logistics, public relations and sponsorships. It affords her more time with her family, including her 7-year-old son, Lasse, and her 22-month-old, Resi, a little girl with a head of curls just like her mother鈥檚. (The family splits time between Vail and Los Cabos.) Since joining Mexico, Schleper has become the unlikely face of the country鈥檚 ski program and she uses her image and expertise to develop the Mexican team. It has helped her rediscover the joy of racing again鈥攏o matter the results.

As expected for a mid-30s racer who has been out of the game for three seasons, Schleper probably won鈥檛 make the podium. The giant slalom was her first race at the world鈥檚 most elite level since her U.S. retirement. On her first run, she flew off the Screech Owl jump in the wrong direction鈥攁 mistake shared by many other athletes鈥攁nd nearly skied off the course. She finished the run 8.36 seconds off the fastest time, in 57th place鈥攋ust barely enough to make the second run, which takes only the top 60 racers.聽鈥淚鈥檝e been skiing better than my time shows, so I鈥檓 a little disappointed,鈥� she said at the bottom. 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 racing as a mom of two, and many people couldn鈥檛 do it. So I鈥檓 just happy to be here.鈥� Her second run was much better, but still not like the old days; it alone would have landed her in 42nd place.

It didn鈥檛 seem to matter. After coming through the finish line and kicking off her skis, in a characteristic mix of cheer and whimsy, Schleper did a little dance for her fans. 鈥淚鈥檓 happy,鈥� she said in the moments after finishing. 鈥淓ven though I鈥檓 not a medal contender, and I was way off in my first run, it was still so emotional to be here. And to see my Mexican fan club in the finish.鈥� (With the slalom on Saturday, Schleper鈥檚 specialty, she still has another shot left to prove her speed.)

The idea to join up with Mexico came from an unlikely place: Hubertus von Hohenlohe, a 56-year-old Austrian prince born in Mexico City. (His family was dethroned.) Hohenlohe founded the Mexican Ski Federation in 1981 and competed in the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo under the Mexican flag. He lives in Lichtenstein most of the year but spends a few weeks every year in Mexico.聽He聽is a friend of Schleper鈥檚 husband, Federico Gaxiola de la Lama, and represents the other half of Mexico鈥檚 ski team. He started recruiting Schleper in 2007, around the time she married de la Lama, telling her the team would give her a chance to keep a foot in competitive skiing and be more fun than the rigor of the U.S. team. Plus, 鈥渋t keeps you young,鈥� Hohenlohe says. The mariachi suits were his idea. They’re an easy way to draw attention to the country’s presence at international ski events, which typically don’t prominently feature Mexican skiers.

鈥淲e are basically always seen as a small nation,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he whole time in the meetings, they say 鈥楽mall nations, don’t do this! Small nations, don’t do that!鈥� And I want to get up and say, 鈥楬ey, Mexico is double Switzerland, double Austria, double Italy, double France鈥擨 mean, what the hell are you talking about, small nations? We might be small in skiing, but we are not small nations, you know?”

At the races on February 8, a passerby recognized Hohenlohe (or at least his racing suit) and asked if he was going to be at the qualifications for the men鈥檚 giant slalom race. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think I鈥檒l qualify, because it鈥檚 too difficult,鈥� he replied, just as cheerfully as if he were telling her he thought he鈥檇 clinch gold. 鈥淏ut I鈥檒l be there!鈥�

That results-be-damned love of the sport is why Schleper returned. It鈥檚 a passion she wants to spread among young people, particularly in Mexico, where the sport is not particularly popular. Currently, skiing in Mexico is lumped in with other winter sports, from ice skating to bobsled, under the country鈥檚 winter sports organization. The ski team itself doesn’t receive any government funding, she said. Instead, she received about $5,000 from the International Ski Federation to go train in Europe over the summer; she鈥檚 also received 鈥�$5,000 to $7,000鈥� from donors over the past year. 鈥淚f you want to do it right, it鈥檚 $100,000,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he guy who tunes my skis, he鈥檚 kind of doing it for free. Anytime I get skiing or sponsorship money, I split it in half with him.鈥�

On the afternoon of February 8, Schleper intermittently paused her training to coach a couple of young Mexican girls, aged 11 and 14, who are moving to Vail. The city could become a training hub for the Mexico team, Schleper says. There鈥檚 a significant Mexican population in the area and the resort鈥檚 resources make it a tempting location. Plus, Schleper lives there. When one of the girls lost her poles out of the starting gate, Schleper went to console her. 鈥淵ou should see, World Cup skiers do the same thing鈥攍ose their poles out of the start,鈥� Schleper told the young girl. She takes a softer tone with her pupils than you might imagine a former member of the U.S. Ski Team would. After all, Schleper returned to the sport despite having no illusions of being number-one.

When she was on the U.S. team, Schleper says, it was hard to feel the same sense of racing for the pure love of it. 鈥淚 was more about results. I wanted to be on top and winning,鈥� she says. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 be on these World Championship or Olympic teams unless you鈥檙e getting certain results; your spot gets taken that quick. So you have to constantly be fighting for a position.鈥� While there are many aspects of the U.S. Ski Team she wants to bring to a Mexican team鈥攖he professionalism, the fund-raising ability, the commitment to training鈥攕he also, she said, wants to focus on the fun of the sport.

鈥淚 think maybe this will put a lot of ripples in the water, and some momentum building for St. Moritz,鈥� the next World Championships, Schleper said. And from there, she said, to the next Olympics.

If all goes well, expect more roars from Schleper in 2018. And, just maybe, more Mexican racers.

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More often than not, when you pull a bottle of 鈥渆xtra-virgin olive oil鈥� off a grocery-store shelf, what you鈥檙e getting is not, in fact, extra virgin. This is a problem that extends far beyond the label: impostor oils and those past their expiration dates聽lack the health-boosting elements found in the real deal, leaving health-conscious consumers drenched in grease.

鈥淚t basically becomes a liquid fat,”聽says聽, executive director of the California Olive Oil Council.

Mislabeled and fraudulent oils are rampant. In recent studies, some of which were popularized by , the UC Davis Olive Center found that were not extra virgin, including those made by popular brands like Carapelli, Bertolli and Colavita. (California-made oils fared much better, with nine of 10 samples authentic.) Of 15 鈥渆xtra-virgin鈥� oils sold to restaurants, meanwhile, .

Extra-virgin olive oil refers to oil that comes from fresh olives that were milled within 24 hours of their harvest,聽and it can鈥檛 have been treated chemically. In other words, extra-virgin oil is a fresh fruit juice. And like other types of fruits, olives contain a vast array of polyphenols, or natural antioxidants, that protect the plant during its lifetime. The older the plant, the more each one contains. That鈥檚 part of why both olive trees and grape vineyards, which can be hundreds of years old, create such antioxidant-rich products, says , a nutritionist and associate professor of medicine who researches olive oil聽at Brown University. 鈥淓xtra-virgin olive oil is a medicine, more than a food, because of these antioxidants. Even blueberries don鈥檛 have the array, the number, that you see in [extra-virgin] olive oil,鈥� she says.

An oil sold as extra-virgin cannot be refined. Oils most often failed because they were adulterated with a cheaper, refined oil, oxidized by age or too much light or heat exposure, or they contained olives that had been damaged or rotten from the start.

All of these issues can give olive oil flavor defects鈥攍ike rancidity or mustiness鈥攖hat not only legally take away its extra-virgin status, but also make it taste completely different than extra-virgin oils. Even worse, these issues also undercut the oil鈥檚 health benefits, particularly when it comes to antioxidants.

One polyphenol only found in extra-virgin olive oil, oleocanthol, is a potent anti-inflammatory shown to help prevent and fight diseases like arthritis and Alzheimer鈥檚. You can taste it: It鈥檚 what causes the burning sensation at the back of your throat. Another compound, alpha-Tocopherol, is a form of vitamin E that studies have linked to the prevention of every ailment from glaucoma to Parkinson鈥檚 disease. Extra-virgin olive oil has the highest content of alpha-Tocopherol of any kind of oil. Oil that isn鈥檛 extra-virgin has none.聽

One problem with faux-extra virgin oil is oxidization. If olives are left on the ground too long, or if more than two years pass between when the olives were pressed and when the oil is consumed, oxidization breaks down those antioxidants. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like you learned in chemistry class: if you put two chemicals near one another and don’t agitate them at all, they just sit there. But if you add light or a catalyst, they鈥檙e much more likely to interact, and that interaction changes both,鈥� says , a nutritionist and the founding director of Yale University鈥檚 Prevention Research Center. (That said, experts agree that you can cook with olive oil without undoing those properties; the breakdown only occurs when the oil hits the smoke point, which is around 405 degrees Fahrenheit for extra-virgin oils.)

Even a true extra-virgin olive oil loses its benefit two years after the harvest. 鈥淲hat was once a fresh, extra-virgin olive oil with lots of health benefits and antioxidants degrades,鈥� says聽. But old oil is still made up primarily of monounsaturated fat, which is to claim that increasing intake, whether of extra-virgin or not, can decrease your coronary heart disease risk. 鈥淓ven if you鈥檙e consuming olive oil that鈥檚 not rich with antioxidants because it鈥檚 not extra-virgin, there鈥檚 still likely to be some benefit,鈥� Katz says. In other words, it鈥檚 still a better choice than, say, Crisco.

For those who want the full health benefits, there are some simple steps to take when buying oil.

Consider the Price

Although spending $50 is no guarantee that what you鈥檙e getting is extra-virgin, spending less than about $10 for a 500mL bottle is usually a guarantee that it鈥檚 not. You can find authentic extra-virgins for $15 or so, says Nicholas Coleman, chief oleologist at New York City鈥檚 Eataly.

Examine the Bottle

If it is made of glass, it should be dark, which protects the liquid from oxidizing sunlight; it should never, ever be plastic.

Look for a Harvest Date

Without that date, which should be on the bottle, you can鈥檛 know if the oil is fresh. The lack of a date also can mean that the oil was blended with leftover oil taken from different years. Since oil loses its best health benefits two years after the harvest, the date should ideally be the most recent harvest.

Determine Where It Came From

Look for the specification of not only the country, but also the town or region the oil came from, along with the specific olive cultivar. Bonus points for a , which is an EU-regulated guarantee of origin. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like buying a bottle of wine. If there鈥檚 no year, no region, and no grape varietals on it, and it just says 鈥榬ed wine鈥�, what do you think you鈥檙e getting? You have no idea. You can鈥檛 make an educated purchase,鈥� Coleman says. Flynn goes a step further, saying that unless you鈥檙e buying from a dealer who has been thoroughly checked out by a third party, like the on investigative journalist Tom Mueller鈥檚 website , you should buy olive oils exclusively from California, which has the most stringent regulations.

Taste It

The real test, though, is in the taste. Although it takes practice, attributes to look for when tasting are peppery, spicy, bitter notes. That鈥檚 not just a necessary attribute of extra-virgin, but the actual flavor of those health-boosting polyphenols. Unsurprisingly, these notes will be strongest in olives that have the highest concentration of polyphenols, like , Coratina, Lucca, and Pendolino olives.聽

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