Over the next 8 weeks, we’ll look at some of your favorite Winter Olympic athletes ahead of the Sochi games. This week, World Champion ski jumper Sarah Hendrickson.
Hendrickson has 13 wins in World Cup competition and an individual gold from the 2013 World Ski Championship. Ahead of the Sochi games, many believed she was the favorite for the gold medal in women’s ski jump.
But in August, while training in Germany, Hendrickson came down awkwardly after a jump tearing her ACL, MCL and meniscus. A brutal injury for any athlete, let alone a skier. Hendrickson has bounced back quickly and last month posted this on Twitter.
First ski jumping immolation today… I can almost taste the ski jump I am so close 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 #greatstarts #greatstartssarah
— Sarah Hendrickson (@schendrickson) December 17, 2013
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“It got good response,” she said last week. “A bunch of people re-tweeted it, and then I read it again and I was like, ‘That’s not the right word … Well, people kind of got what I was saying, so I’m not going to delete it. Whatever.’ ” She let out a big, unfettered laugh. “Probably just sounded like an idiot,” she said.
Hendrickson may not win a medal but her swift comeback from injury suggests she’s not one to be doubted.