Crash: A Collection Of Olympic Mishaps

As a reflection of Sandra Bullock’s Oscar-nominated movie Crash (a series of poignant stories involving accidents), the USA Olympic team has unwillingly embodied this movie through its recent string of seemingly unrelated race crashes. As in the movie whose characters reflect on their ordeals, these athletes are also left to wonder why “things turned out the way they did”. Whether it be the demise of the luge doubles team of Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin with its sled overturning, the scary upending of alpine skier Lyndsey Kildow leading her to hurtling down an icy slope, or the apparent carelessness of snowboarder Lyndsey Jacobellis wiping-out near the finish line, this year’s team has been beset with these tragedies.

For starters, Kildow was left to question how her violent training run accident, where she skidded down the slope on her back with legs splayed, could have occurred. She relayed to reporters that she did not remember the ensuing 10 minutes after her Downhill race fall. After a set of testing and brief recuperation and treatment at a hospital, she regained her composure and tackled the same run in competition – giving it her best despite back and hip injuries. A few days later, she braved herself once again, this time for the “Combined” Alpine event, but lost her balance and fell on a slalom course – thereby eliminating her from the competition and any chances at medalling at these Olympics.

Next the two-time Olympic medallist Luge doubles team uncharacteristically overturned its sled on their final run where they had high hopes of a third visit to the medal podium. The tearful driver, Grimmette, admitted that his failure to negotiate a turn correctly was the cause behind the sled’s overturning and the resulting ejection of himself and Martin from the sled. Although walking away uninjured, the pair was left to wonder “what could have been” and to speculate what lies ahead with their futures.

Probably the most peculiar “Crash” occurred in the new Olympic Games sport of Snowboard Cross where the 20-year old favorite Jacobellis (below) “show-boarded” her dominating lead near the finish by “styling” a jump unnecessarily. In so doing, she lost her balance and tumbled to the ground. And by the time she righted herself to race to the finish, the distant 2nd place boarder easily overtook her to win the Gold. In the post-race press conference, she dismissed this manueuver as a hot-dogging antic and instead stated that she “was having fun” and then proclaimed, “Oh well. It happens.”