Sarah Burke: X Games Superstar's Injury Brings Sorrow to Sport She Helped Build
This should be a time of anticipation and excitement. Instead, a sorrowful pall has been cast over an engaging sport that Sarah Burke loves so dearly.
Widely considered a pioneer of the freestyle half pipe, Burke was seriously injured on Tuesday and is said to be in critical condition.
Burke was competing in half pipe at a sponsor's event at Park City, Utah. Canada.com reports Burke had to be resuscitated on the hill before she was moved. As of now, she is in critical condition as well as in a coma per the report.
ESPN reports Burke may have suffered a significant brain injury in her crash. Not much else is known about the injury or how it occurred, but it seems the more details that emerge, the more serious things sound for Burke.
The ESPN report cites Robert Foxford, a doctor for the Canadian freestyle team. Foxford said he believed Burke was under a medically induced coma and added, "That would be the standard procedure for someone with a significant brain injury."
For now, fans that saw Burke soar through the air with precision and passion will have to wait to see what the future holds for an athlete that did no less than put her sport on the map.
She is a four-time X Games gold medalist and also took home a silver in 2005. The Canadian is by all accounts a shoe-in for the 2014 Olympics games.
Those are the games that Burke lobbied hard to have included. At that time, the sport she dominated and nurtured will debut. The hope by everyone is that Burke can be there to compete.
The odd part is that spectators claim the fall didn't look all that serious. What we do know is that it was significant enough to put Burke into the biggest battle of her life.
This was a time meant for training for the X Games, where Burke would again be a favorite. Now, even looking beyond this winter and to the Olympics seems trite. There are far more important things at hand, and that is seeing Sarah Burke recover fully from her horrible crash.
