Canada's Cassie Sharpe ready to "kick butt" at Beijing Olympics after surgery horror story
What’s it like preparing for the Winter Olympics this year?
Stressful.
That’s one of the words Canadian freestyle skier Cassie Sharpe used when Daily Hive spoke to the 2018 Olympic gold medallist before she headed to Beijing.
It’s hard enough preparing for the Olympics in a normal year, but the past 12 months have been particularly hard on the Comox, BC, athlete.
Twelve months ago, Sharpe suffered a devastating knee injury in the halfpipe competition, which was followed up with a horror story from surgery.
“It was brutal,” Sharpe told Daily Hive.
Sharpe was taken off on a stretcher after a fall at the X Games last year. She tore her ACL and had partially torn her MCL. She needed surgery, but that’s when things really took a turn for the worse.
“I woke up from surgery in so much pain. The nurses were like, ‘Yeah, you just had surgery, this is how it feels.'”
The 29-year-old has been through six surgeries during her career, so she knew something was wrong.
“In surgery, when I was getting the ligaments put back together, and they had to put a staple in my femur, they actually fractured my femur.”
It’s one thing to suffer an injury — as an athlete in an extreme sport, she’s used to that — it’s quite another to have a mishap in the operating room.
“I knew I had blown my knee, but then something out of my control had happened. I had to come to terms with that.”
Sharpe says she’s doing much better now and has been on a “good uphill trajectory” since September. She admits to still feeling somewhat timid with regards to her knee, but knows she’ll be ready to compete.
šØš¦Cassie Sharpe stomps her second run in the women's halfpipe and holds her first place position with a score of 95.80! #PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/ZSuwYZrE0w
— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 20, 2018
“I’m feeling super strong and really ready to go kick some butt,” she said.
Kicking butt is what the freestyle skier did four years ago in PyeongChang, winning Olympic gold for Canada with a score of 95.80 in the women’s halfpipe competition.
Family ties
Sharpe hasn’t seen her family since Christmas, as she prepared for Beijing in the Canadian team bubble in Calgary.
With Omicron circulating in the community and one positive COVID test threatening to end an Olympic run before it even begins, every athlete needs to be hyper aware of the virus before Beijing.
“With this new COVID variant that’s so contagious, it’s just been really hard for all the athletes to navigate to make sure that we’re all good and healthy to go to the Olympics. It’s been super stressful for the last few months, but we’re really excited. We’re close.”
Sharpe was one of many athletes that skipped the Winter X Games, doing so because it fell within the 15-day window to provide test results to get into China.
So instead, she trained at WinSport in Calgary during off-hours, when only Canadian Olympic team athletes and coaches were allowed in.
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While her parents won’t be able to cheer her on in person at the Olympics, Sharpe will have family support in Beijing. That’s because Cassie’s younger brother, Darcy Sharpe, a snowboarder in the slopestyle and big air competitions, will be competing too. It’ll be Darcy’s first Olympics, at age 25.
Getting back to the Olympics
As an Olympic gold medallist, Sharpe was able to secure a few corporate partnerships ahead of Beijing, including Monster, Lululemon, Columbia, Giro, Zuma, and her latest, with Sobey’s.
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“They’re everything,” Sharpe said, acknowledging the financial support necessary for athletes to be at their best. “With the Olympics, I feel like athletes really seek out these kinds of partnerships… [Sobey’s] slogan is ‘feed the dream’ and that’s exactly what they’re doing for us. They’re supporting us to get to where we need to be.”
“Just be total dingbats”
Sharpe says she has suffered well over 15 injuries during her career, including six surgeries and multiple concussions. She has broken each of her thumbs about 6-8 times.
“It’s hard to count,” she says.
The injuries, the rehab, being away from family — it begs the question, why keep doing this to yourself?
“I’m in it for the long haul. It’ll be about a month and a half or two months before I get back home and hug my family and see my family. But you know, you’re going to the Olympics, and I think that’s what makes it all worth it.”
“I’m just excited to put on some new Lulu kit and rip around the village and do all the things that the Olympics entail.”
Nerves are a factor for every athlete at the Olympics, but Sharpe has a secret.
Just be total dingbats.
“I obviously was so nervous and had so much anticipation about it. And so, between me and my teammates, we tried to make everything fun and not too stressful, not to put too much pressure on ourselves.
“We would wear matching outfits every day and run around the village, and just be total dingbats.”
Hey, whatever works.
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