(The Globe and Mail) – Jessica Sevick’s family was told she might not make it. The 12-year-old from Strathmore, Alta., had just suffered a severe brain injury during a luge training run at Calgary’s Olympic Park.
Doctors didn’t know whether or not Sevick would survive the traumatic collision on one of the icy course’s final turns. If she pulled through, there was a chance Sevick was facing a serious disability.
Two decades on she not only lives a normal life, Sevick is now an Olympian after the 32-year-old rower raced to a second-place finish with Gabrielle Smith in Friday’s heats of the women’s double sculls at the Tokyo Games.
“I learned so much from that experience,” Sevick said of her accident as she fought back tears at the sweltering Sea Forest Waterway. “I don’t think I could have got here if that hadn’t happened. “I learned a lot (about) resilience.” CONTINUE