Nineteen year old short track speedskater J.R. Celski of Federal Way, Washington is perhaps the most unlikely Olympian competing in the Vancouver Games which kick off today with the opening ceremony. Five months ago Celski suffered what many thought was a career ending injury, surely a season ending one. He crashed into the boards during a race at the U.S. Olympic Trials and sliced his leg with his own skate. The gruesome cut went all the way to the bone and just missed his femoral artery by an inch.
His surgeon told him he could forget about the Olympics even though he had already qualified based on finishing second at the World Short Track Championships earlier in the year. It would be two months before Celski was even allowed to lace up his skates. Since mid-November he’s been trying to regain strength and technique. His coach says Celski is about 95-percent back on both. The hardest hurdle has been mental. J.R. admits that he fears re-injuring the leg. When he takes a corner at 40 M.P.H. he wonders what will happen when he’s stuck in a pack of racers jockeying for position.
His team doctor, 5-time gold medal winner at the 1980 Olympics Eric Heiden, says before the injury Celski was certainly among the fastest skaters in the world and expected to medal. But now the challenge is to overcome fear and avoid hesitation. In a sport measured in hundredths of a second, any holding back will mean failure. Celski says he is ready to compete. He’ll be on the ice Saturday in the quarterfinals of the 1500 meter short track race. It will be his first competition since the injury.
Some would say he’s already won just by getting to the starting line.
WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES