2010 Olympians Who Inspired

By Mike Howard on Mar 3, 2010

Living in the city that hosts the Olympic Games has been quite an experience, and 2010 brought with it some memorable moments.

Here are some current and former winter Olympians who have accomplished incredible feats, beat the odds and have otherwise given us reason to believe.

Petra Majdic, Slovenia
Cross country skier Petra Majdic took an awful spill into a rocky ditch, collapsing a lung and breaking 4 ribs. Very few sports challenge the cardiorespiratory system the way cross country skiing does - when it hurts to breathe, this isn't a good thing. Petra refused to quit though, and incredibly won a bronze medal, having to be helped onto the podium.

Here's a video of her crash and subsequent performance.

Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, Ghana
When you think of alpine skiing, Ghana is probably not the first country that comes to mind. Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong had modest expectations about his chances in 2010 - "not coming in last". The "snow leopard" achieved that goal, coming in 47th out of 102 starters. While most Olympic-calibre skiers are skiing shortly after learning to walk, the 35 year-old snow leopard didn't take up the sport until 6 years ago.

See Kwame's story here.

Brian Mckeever, Canada
This is a story that doesn't have a story-book ending. Brian Mckeever, a legally blind cross country skier was to become the first winter Olympian to race on both the Olympics and Paralympics. Although Canada's cross country ski coach opted not to include McKeever for the 50km pursuit, I can't leave this tremendous athlete off the "inspiration" list.

Joannie Rochette, Canada
One of figure skating's top ranked women, Canadian Joannie Rochette got some devastating news that her mother had died of a heart attack while in Vancouver to watch her daughter. It's one thing to deal with a tragedy like this under normal circumstances, let alone days before the most pivotal moment of your life. In what can only be described as an ultimately courageous performance, Rochette won a bronze medal.

Here is Rochette at a press conference detailing her experience.

Here's a couple of inspiring past Olympians

Hermann Maier, Austria
The "Herminator" is one of the most dominant downhill skiers of all time. What often separates champions from great athletes however is the ability to persevere through obstacles. The Nagano Olympics were Hermann's shining moment.

Watch the video and be amazed.

Dan Jansen, USA
Just hours before his 500m skate at the 1988 Olympics, gold medal favourite Dan Jansen learned that his sister had died of leukemia. The understandable distraught Jansen would fall in the first turn. He would fall again in the 1000m while on record pace. 4 years later in Albertville, Jansen was again a favourite in the 500 and 1000. He would finish a disappointing 4th in the 500 and 26th in the 1000. 1994 would be his final shot at glory. He faltered going into a turn in his 500m race. His last chance at a gold medal would come in the 1000m.

Watch the video and see what happened.

Hopefully stories like these will help inspire people all over the world to believe that anything is possible.

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