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Brydon's Olympic medal dream may be shattered run CALGARY -- Emily Brydon figured she had been through the worst and was now ready to experience the best. She was wrong. One of Canada's top alpine skiers and a potential medalist at the Salt Lake Winter Olympics, Brydon fell during a training run at Copper Mountain, Colo., last Sunday and suffered a serious knee injury, her second in the past 10 months. According to the early medical reports sent to Alpine Canada, Brydon tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee when one of her skis caught an edge in the snow and sent her crashing. She was scheduled to undergo surgery last night in Vancouver and may not be ready for the Olympic downhill, set for Feb. 11. Her mother, however, refused to give up hope. "I've talked to her a few times and all we're talking about is the operation and what's involved," Rosemary Brydon said from her home in Fernie, B.C. "Until she comes out of surgery and the doctor has fixed up her ACL, we can't say what's going to happen." "I think talking about the Olympics is still premature," Alpine Canada vice-president Joze Sparovec added. "For certain, we can say that she will definitely come back and ski again. This will not ruin Emily's career." Rosemary said she was devastated after being told on Sunday that her 21-year-old daughter had suffered a second major knee injury in less than a year. The first occurred in February when Brydon crashed during the world alpine ski championships in St. Anton, Austria, and tore both the ACL and medial collateral ligament in her right knee. Pat McConkie did the reconstructive surgery and was scheduled to operate on Brydon's other knee last night. "The timing of this second injury is not good," Sparovec said. "But Emily recovered so well from her first injury and she was skiing well again before this. Considering her young age, we won't rush her. It will be a decision made by the doctors." Brydon's first setback put a damper on what had been a remarkable season. Although she had won gold and silver medals at the world junior level, no one was expecting Brydon to score many top results against the World Cup's older, more polished competitors. Instead, she finished third in a December downhill in St. Moritz, Switzerland, then followed that up with eight other top-15 results in both speed and technical events. "It was a good year, and I think my knee injury may have been the best thing that happened to me," Brydon said last week at an Alpine Canada news conference in Calgary. "I got a chance to think about skiing and why I enjoy it so much. It gave me a chance to fall in love with it again." Brydon added she had worked hard to strengthen her right knee and was looking forward to Salt Lake and her first Olympics. Her mother said Emily's positive nature will help get her through this latest setback. "Fortunately, it's early in her career," she said. "She still has a long time to continue in skiing. I've told her, 'When you get over this, you're going to be a stronger person for it.' She's a fighter. She's special." reprinted with permission |
