New Olympic sports have history with danger
Last Updated: Sunday, February 14, 2010 | 11:49 PM ET
New York Times for CBC Sports
Snowboard cross ranks among the most unpredictable sports. (Sebastian Derungs/Getty Images)There are times that no one makes it to the finish line without a tumble. And it is not unusual for some racers never to make it at all.
"Yeah, we've had a lot of injuries, a lot of serious ones, a couple deaths in our sport," said the American snowboard cross athlete Nate Holland, a gold-medal contender. "It’s no joke."
A luger from the Republic of Georgia was killed in a crash on Friday, setting a somber tone for the Vancouver Games and stirring debate over how much is too much risk. Despite its high speeds through an icy chute, luge has had relatively few serious injuries since it was added to the Olympic program in 1964. Death in the sport is rare.
But snowboard cross and its cousin, ski cross, the only new medal sport added for these Olympics, are likely the most dangerous sports at the Winter Games.
Weeks after finishing 12th in 2006 at Turin, the Olympic debut for snowboard cross, Sweden's Jonatan Johansson died of internal injuries following a hard landing on a World Cup course at Lake Placid, N.Y. About 18 months before, Norway's Line Ostvold, a former world champion enticed out of retirement by the addition of snowboard cross to the Olympic roster, died of a head injury after a spill on a World Cup course in Chile.
Still, the spectacle of snowboard cross was appealing enough that the International Olympic Committee, in November 2006, also added ski cross to the winter program. Somewhat predictably, its debut next Sunday could be substantially depleted due to injuries in recent weeks.
The former American alpine skiing Olympians Daron Rahlves, 36, and Casey Puckett, 37, found that they missed the thrill of hurtling down a steep mountain after retiring. Having re-emerged as medal contenders in ski cross, each was hurt at the Winter X Games days after being named to the Olympic team. Their status for the Olympics is uncertain; Rahlves said it could be a last-minute decision, and Puckett tentatively plans to compete. The same is true for the Austrian snowboard cross favorite Max Schairer, the 2008 Winter X Games silver medalist who was released from a hospital on Jan. 31, a day after sustaining a concussion and breaking ribs in a fall.
At training this week, Japan's Yuka Fujimori, who was seventh in women’s snowboard cross at the 2006 Olympics, sustained neck and hip injuries and was hospitalized.
And last year, three weeks after winning bronze at the X Games, the Norwegian snowboarder Stian Sivertzen crashed on the course that will be used for these Olympics, fracturing his collarbone, pelvis and lower back, and tearing his aorta. He later fell into a coma, but has recovered to reach the Olympics.
The skiers and riders taking part in the cross sports, which will take place on the same course at Cypress Mountain, realize danger has an allure not just for fans, but for themselves.
The American snowboard cross athlete Graham Watanabe, whose own injury history includes a severely blown knee and — in a separate crash — a pelvis broken in four places, said he was proud to make the Olympics largely because of the injuries he had overcome.
"I try to put myself in positions where I come up to a jump and say, 'This thing scares me to death right now,'" Watanabe said. "But if I conquer this one, the next one’s going to be easier."
The course at Cypress Mountain drops with an 18 per cent grade over about two-thirds of a mile — or 1,100 metres. Athletes will jockey for position near the top, then snake around turns, over blind mounds and, airborne, across wide gaps, looking for places to pass. While the snowboard cross and ski cross often get compared to roller derby, intentional contact is not permitted. It is much more graceful than that.
"There really is no feeling in the world like soaring through the air with other guys right next to you," said Holland, who has won the Winter X Games five consecutive times, but was 14th in Turin after a fall and feels he has some unfinished Olympic business. "It's really loud, before the lip, with all the boards on the snow. And then it's just silent in the air. Then you hear pop-pop-pop-pop — all the landings. All your senses are perked, for sure."
But things can fall apart in a hurry. Puckett, a four-time Olympian in alpine skiing, was leading a World Cup race in Grindelwald, Switzerland, two years ago. One of the four competitors had already fallen before a second lost his balance over a jump and, in mid-air, knocked out a third, who skidded out of control and upended Puckett, sending him cartwheeling down the mountain. The chain reaction sent Puckett to the hospital in a helicopter with a serious shoulder injury.
The injury he had in January did not come about the same way. Leading near the finish, he crashed into a gate on his own. This time, it was his other shoulder that was hurt.
The most famous race in the sports of snowboard cross and ski cross probably came at the 2006 Olympics and it was not the American Seth Wescott’s gold-medal run, which capped a day of chaos and carnage.
It was the women's final. Canada's Maelle Ricker, a medal favorite again this Olympics, fell so hard that she was airlifted to a hospital. Dominique Maltais of Canada collided with a competitor and flew off the course and into the safety netting. And the American Lindsey Jacobellis was cruising to victory until the last jump when, comfortably ahead, she coolly grabbed her board, lost her balance in the air and tumbled to the snow.
Switzerland's Tanja Frieden, who had been far behind after her brush with Maltais, breezed past for the victory. Jacobellis was left with one of the Winter Games’ most famous silver medals. Her quest for gold this time around is a major storyline.
Most telling might be what occurred in late January. Frieden retired from the snowboard cross after tearing both Achilles' tendons in a crash. Crying, she made the announcement from a wheelchair.
