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Rabbit's foot, dream catchers, old baby blankets. We all have our good luck charms. And Olympic athletes are no exception. Sometimes winning an Olympic medal takes a little something extra.

USA figure skater, Evan Lysacek, defeated Russian, Yevgeny Pleshenko, to bring home the first US male figure-skating gold medal in 22 years. Evan electrified the crowd with a flawless routine. But his win didn't come without a bit of good luck, in the form of a "lightening bolt." When Evan qualified for his first Junior Olympics, he decided to skate in a costume of his own creation: a blue superhero design with a yellow lightning bolts. He won the Junior Olympics that year and ever since, he has accessorized with a lightning bolt necklace for good luck. This time, that lightning bolt helped to bring him an even better accessory: an Olympic gold medal.

USA skier Julia Mancuso has already won two silver medals in Vancouver. And like Evan, her victories came about with lots of hard work, dedication and a very special good luck charm. Due to her "opinionated" nature, Julia's coaches gave her a toy tiara prior to the 2006 Olympic Games in Torino, along with the nickname "Princess." According to Julia, "I used to wear a tiara when we didn't have to wear helmets in the slalom, but then they changed the rules so I had a silver tiara painted on my helmet. Win or lose, that tiara is always with me." [People]

Julia loves her good luck charm so much, that she has turned it into a business venture. She has a line of lingerie called "Kiss My Tiara." IOC regulations have forced her to temporarily shut down the shopping pages where you can find these goods, but check back here after the Olympics.

And it's only fitting that one of the most talked about Olympians, USA figure skater Johnny Weir, would have some interesting good luck quirks himself. At the top of that list: Lady Gaga. Weir, who performs to Lady Gaga's hit "Poker Face" at exhibitions, recently attended her concert at Radio City Music Hall and sat next to the singer's mother, who is a skating fan. [WSJ]

He has even decorated his apartment at the Olympic village with scented candles, pink decor and posters and words of inspiration from Lady Gaga. While he didn't medal at the Vancouver Games, he did skate one of his best performances yet. Could there be a collaboration between these two in the future? We can only hope so.

- Glam Gal -

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