These numbers add up
Mark McMorris one of a number of Canadians who have made the podium so far
Editor’s note Freelancer Jenna Conter and Saltwire journalist Tim Arsenault are spending their overnights following the Olympics from the comfort of their armchairs. Each day they report on some of the successes, defeats and interesting things they have found from television and online coverage and social media in their columns. Today’s column is from Jenna Conter.
It’s the second day (Third? This time change is seriously rocking my already unstable foundation of simple mathematics) of competition in this these Winter Olympic Games and our Nation that Can-nah-DOES has carved out a few notches on the medal board.
Silver: Justine Dufour Lapointe, Freestyle skiing Moguls
Silver: Ted-Jan Bloeman, Speed skating 5K
Silver: Max Parrot, Slopestyle Snowboarding
Bronze: Mark McMorris, Slopestyle Snowboarding In case you read that “McMorris” name and the hairs on the back of your neck stood up, yes, that’s him. That is the young man who, after answering the siren call of fresh powder in B.C.’s backcountry, was the victim of what was described as a freak accident. After taking a jump said to be “infinitely below their skill level,” McMorris flew and ended up in some trees.
The injury tally included a
pretty banged up jaw, broken left arm, a pelvic fracture, a collapsed lung, a ruptured spleen, and multiple rib fractures. That was only back in March. As you can watch and learn
through the documentary that chronicled his accident and recovery, the kid almost died. Certainly shaken but far from scared off the sport, McMorris made it back on his board in
time for these Olympics. Capturing bronze back in 2014 in Sochi, to watch him earn more hardware four years later and less than a year after a near fatal accident, instills a sense of pride for the human condition and a serious gutchecking “what’s your excuse” in reference to self-imposed barriers. Not to get all afterschool special on yeah, but as McMorris took to the bronze platform, cicked his heals and flashed a big smile, it hit me in all the feels.
And if those sorta feels aren’t your thing, watching the first athlete born in the 2000’s, 17-year-old American Snowboarder Redmond Gerard accept his gold medal, smacks mighty painful on the ol’hip joints.