VANCOUVER -- Whenever anybody asks J.R. Celski what caused him to miss the last five months of competition, all the U.S. short track speed skater has to do is take out his iPhone. There, brought up on the tiny LCD screen, is the close-up picture of a leg that looks like it had been attacked by a shark. It is the kind of ghastly image that would make a stomach turn.
But the way that Celski proudly shows it, you would think you were looking at his girlfriend rather than a mangled body part.
"I can show you guys if you want to see it," he told a group of reporters a day after he was awarded a bronze medal in the men's 1,500 metres.
Before anyone could answer, he was already holding up his phone.
"Here it is."
Aside from it being a conversation starter in the athletes' village, Celski hangs onto the image as a reminder.
On Sept. 12, the Washington-raised skater got the scare of his life when he accidentally stabbed his left thigh with his right skate following a crash at the U.S. Olympic trials. More than 60 stitches were required to close the gaping wound. Doctors warned the 19-year-old that he might never walk again -- much less skate competitively.
So the fact that Celski was not only able to compete on Saturday, but reached the podium, was a bit of a miracle.
"It happened five months ago, so not many people were expecting me to be here," he said.
"I am actually very thankful that I was able to come back from that injury, because I was about an inch away from my femoral [artery]. If I cut that I probably wouldn't even be here today. I don't know what would have happened. The incision was kind of like a medical incision. I didn't cut anything major except the muscles."
Short-track speed skating is a sport where accidents are inevitable. Often compared to roller derby, skaters race around a tiny oval in tightly formed packs at about 50 km/h.
That someone might be cut by an opponent's skate or suffer a broken bone after sliding off the track is not uncommon.
Celski knew this. But when he took up the sport four years ago after watching teammate Apolo Anton Ohno win gold at the 2006 Olympics, he never contemplated there would come a time when he would have to physically remove a skate blade that had become lodged in his thigh.
That happened when he careened around a corner of the final lap and crashed into the protective mats.
"I didn't know what to expect when the injury happened," he said. "The way that I went into the boards, I didn't slice my leg, I stabbed it with the front of my blade. If you can imagine, it was sticking in there. I grabbed it with my right hand and pulled it out myself. I felt everything.
"The initial incision I didn't feel until I looked down. But when I saw the opening, I was overwhelmed.
"I looked down and I see this rainbow-assortment of colours in my leg. It was blue, yellow, purple, red, white. I saw my femur. It was really crazy to look at. I thought at one point I was going to die that night, for sure."
At the time of the injury, Celski was regarded as the new face of U.S. short-track speed skating. He had won two gold medals at the world championships and had already qualified for three Olympic events (he races in the 1,000 and the 5,000 relay on Wednesday).
The future was his to take.
And then, suddenly, it seemed to be ending before it had even begun.
"I kind of let all my emotions go," said Celski. "It wasn't pain that I was mad about. It was the emotional blows of being out of the competition and being out of my run for the Olympics. I let some tears go that night, definitely."
When the anger subsided, Celski replaced his tears with a vow that he would compete in the Olympics.
And before undergoing surgery, he had an anesthesiologist take a picture of his leg so when that day finally arrived he would have a visual reminder of how far he had come.
Five months later, that photo means just as much as the bronze medal around his neck.
"I guess the moments when we're down and out are the moments when we learn the most about ourselves," said Celski.
"When I was lying on the ice, I was in defeat at first. I thought my whole career was over. But I guess in those moments is when we truly define ourselves. I definitely learned that I was much more stronger than I thought I was, both mentally and physically."
Photo: J.R. Celski of United States celebrates winning bronze in 1500 m men's short track on Day 2 of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics at Pacific Coliseum on February 13, 2010 in Vancouver. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
