Q&A DENNY MORRISON
Q You suffered a brutal motorcycle accident and then a stroke in 2016. How difficult was the rehab and what made you decide to stick with the sport and attempt a comeback?
A Where to even begin? Speed Skating Canada, for starters, has been super supportive along the way. Before the motorcycle accident, it was one of the very best seasons of my entire career, and I think within the two-week window before the accident — obviously, I don’t remember this period — but my massage therapist was telling me I was talking to him shortly before the accident. I said, “I don’t know why I would ever retire from speedskating, I’ll just keep speedskating. I have it figured out now and I’m having great results. I love what I do, I’m passionate about it, I travel the world ,” etcetera, etcetera. Then boom, the motorcycle accident. What my mom, sister and girlfriend — now wife — Josie, who were in the hospital with me after the accident told me is that one of the first things I said when I became conscious was, “Well, this is a new set of challenges, but I still want to skate in Korea.”
Q What is it about competing, and the Olympics, that keeps you coming back for more?
A I think it’s because every Olympic experience has been different, from a rookie to high expectations to the underdog to now the comeback kid. The other Olympics, I was always aiming for medals and wanting the medal and I thought it was all about the medals. Don’t get me wrong, I still want to win medals at this Olympics, but I really think that I can connect to the average Canadian, the average hard-working Canadian who’s going through adversity of their own, in any form. It’s human nature to find adversity and there’s that choice you have to make: are we going to overcome it, and work towards our goals? Or are we going to quit and fail?