This was the craziest damn thing I have ever seen at the Olympics- but first: Cross-Country Sprinting is a little more exciting than plain old Cross-Country Skiing. For a start, competitors have to do 4 miles (1 mile a piece for the qualifiers, quarters, semis and then medal finals) over the course of one day. They don't get a lot of cool-down time in between, so it's simultaneously about being the fastest person on snow, while at the same time saving enough in your 'gas tank' so to speak, for the final round.
But as I said: this was the craziest damn thing I have ever seen at the Olympics-
Top Sprinter from Slovenia Petra Majdic, widely expected to be the huge favorite for Gold in the women's sprint quite literally falls off a (mild) cliff during her warm-ups! She bruised her back to beat hell- had to get x-rays to make sure nothing was broken and leaving aside the fact that you don't expect to see wipeouts like this in cross country skiing (a somewhat vanilla sport, you'd have to admit) what happened next was downright amazing.
Majdic raced. With a bruised back. Got herself into the finals and made a late charge to take bronze. After every single round, she would literally collapse into the snow, crying and screaming in pain- but she kept going. Tough, gutsy, awesome performance.
Walk tall, Slovenia. It may not be the medal you wanted, but she did you proud!
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