Doubt and uncertainty combine with pride during an athlete’s years of training, as winter games or any world-class competition can be a roller coaster of feelings.
Hendrickson, although she thinks she is the loser, is also quite confident that her knee is healthy and ready for her ski jump. “My knee is still five months away from surgery and I knew it would react a little bit” to the stress of training again, he said. “But actually it has been done quite well. I am confident in what I have done with him, and I am confident in what I can do here in Sochi.”
Whether or not Hendrickson earned medals at the 2014 Winter Games, getting to this point was due to the focus and dedication he put into getting the job done.
Lindsey Vonn had another mix of emotions in her psyche as she was forced to watch the 2014 Olympics from the sidelines.
Hoping for an Olympic relegation this year, Vonn was forced to retire after sustaining a knee injury. Vonn posted her emotional withdrawal on her Facebook page, “I am devastated to announce that I will not be able to compete in Sochi. I did everything I could to somehow be strong enough to overcome the lack of ACL, but the reality is it’s sunk into that. My knee is too unstable to compete at this level. “
What about those athletes who decide that, after all their training, they should choose not to participate in the Olympics? Shaun White, another American aspirant, believed that the slopestyle course was too difficult and announced at the last minute that he would not compete in an event, but instead focused his efforts on the half-pipe. Emotional? Bet! “Difficult,” as Shaun exclaimed to his fans on Twitter.
Perhaps Shaun was also a bit intimidated by the tour after watching another Olympian spill. “It’s always disappointing when you see a driver go down and can’t compete,” White said after training. “It’s definitely intimidating when you have to run the same course right after him.”
These 2014 Olympics will run through the gamut of emotions for all participants!
When the jumps are over and the medals are received, the focus turns to relief that participation is over. For certain gold medal winners, there will also be a one-time surprise. Gold medal winners on day nine will have a chunk of meteorite that crashed in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk earlier this year embedded in the metal.
A sense of accomplishment, a purpose that these athletes have given up in exchange for a victory and the glory that accompanies gold.