The spirit of Sarah Burke,the late and legendary Canadian freestyle skier,loomed large in the finals of the women's halfpipe ski event Thursday at the Sochi Winter Olympics.It was Burke who initially pushed ESPN to include the event in its Winter X Games and,later,convinced the International Olympic Committee to include it in the Sochi 2014 Games.She died at age 29 on January 19,2012 of injuries received January 10 in a training accident at Park City,Utah,suffering irreversible damage to the brain due to lack of oxygen and blood after cardiac arrest,and a torn vertebral artery.
In the course of her career,she won four gold medals and a silver at the Winter X Games,plus the World Championship in halfpipe in 2005.In 2007,she received the ESPY award for Best Female Action Sports Athlete.She married fellow skier Rory Bushfield in 2010.*
Emotions over Sarah flowed in the hearts of the skiers who had personally known her Thursday.Her parents were among the spectators at Sochi,and consider the skiers to be family.*
Sarah's the reason we're all here,said Team USA's Maddie Bowman,20,of South Lake Tahoe,California.Without Sarah,none of us would be Olympians.Sarah inspired us on snow or off snow.I think she would have been proud of how all the girls rode tonight.*
Bowman won the first gold medal in the new Olympic discipline with her clean and seamless run,followed by Marie Martinod of France,29,silver,and Japan's Ayuna Onozuka,bronze.With Bowman's victory and that of David Wise the day before,the US swept the gold medals for the event.
American Brita Sigourney also performed some remarkable tricks at up to 34' off the ground,but a slight mistake on one landing kept her off the medal stand.*
The US led the medals count as of Thursday night with 25.Russia was second with 23,and the Netherlands held third with 22.Norway had the most gold medals(10).
No comments:
Post a Comment