Go big or go home. It’s a motto followed religiously by many athletes, and alpine skiers are no exception.
But going big has a cost – six members of the national team have suffered season ending injuries in the run up to the Olympics. Anna Goodman, Kelly VanderBeek, Larisa Yurkiw, Francois Bourque, Jean-Philippe Roy and John Kucera are all going to be watching the Games from the sidelines. Kucera fractured his leg, and the rest have suffered serious knee injuries – mostly in the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
As demoralizing as it looks for the Canadian team, it means they are in the right mindset to win medals.
“Just giv’r,” the slang says. Give it everything, or pack your bags. The skiers know if they stay and race without giving it everything, they’ll be heading home – likely empty handed. Often the best runs are the riskiest, with the highest chance to falter or fall.
So, in the choice between Whistler or walking, members of the Canadian Alpine ski team are picking their skis over their knees.
And they aren’t “B” team players. VanderBeek and Bourque both missed the podium by only one spot in the 2006 Turin Olympics and were strong contenders for two of the three medals Alpine Canada is aiming for in Vancouver.
Some suggest the icy artificial conditions of the European hills are to blame. Blame can also lie with faster ski development, catching up and surpassing the realm of human capacity.
There are some things that can be done – courses can be designed to slow racers down with safer gate combinations. The technical specifications for skis can also be changed to disqualify wider, thus faster, skis.
But this season, neither of those are the biggest factor. These injuries are coming from racers pushing the limits. Even American favourite Lindsey Vonn has had to tape her injured hand to her ski pole to race.
With Canadians Manuel Osborne-Paradis and Emily Brydon ranked fourth in the world in the downhill event, plus four other racers in the top ten, they need that extra push to land on the podium.
It’s now or never for those left standing.
These injuries are not something to be taken lightly – they are devastating and take months of rehab. Personally, I’ve finished a season by trading in my skis for a wheelchair. I had a reconstructed ACL in one leg, the other put back together with a rod and screws, not to mention the piles of casts, crutches and countless concussions.
But this is what makes ski racers great athletes. They have a fearless and well aware of the risks and dangers that can happen. The sport and injuries go hand in hand.
Just like these athletes, I knew what I was risking every time I snapped my skis into my bindings and put on my helmet.
Being aware of the risks and still being able to giv’r means Canada’s racers are in the right mindset to go big at the games.
The fact that so many of their teammates are injured could be a deterrent and distraction for the racers, but they have been trained to block everything out on the hill.
Standing in those starting gates, there’s only one thing on their minds. It’s about to be a fight between the skier and the mountain.
After years of training and watching teammates get injured, Canadian athletes are ready and won’t let a rash of injuries shake their focus. If they can use their teammates’ frustration to fuel the fire, all the better.
The go big or go home psyche has been infused in ski culture since before these racers were even born. If they continue to embrace it, they’ll go big at home and hopefully the medals will outnumber the injuries.