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'But they're honestly just so happy and proud of what I've done, even beyond if I come home with a medal. 'I think everyone was a bit nervous to have me come back to racing,' she said. The initial decision was met with kindness and support, but deterrence, too, she said. Returning to the sport that nearly claimed her life was difficult for those who'd sat next to O'Brien in the intensive care unit. 'We tend to write ourselves off when things happen. 'It's super important for me to show that just because things change, it doesn't mean you can't do things still,' she said. She also got back to competing against able-bodied track cyclists.

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'It was very up in the air as to whether I'd walk or speak again,' O'Brien said.Īs she worked her way through recovery and rehabilitation, O'Brien made it clear to her loved ones that she was going to get back on a bike, even if it was only to ride to the grocery store for a pack of Sour Patch Kids.Ī return to competitive track cycling wasn't far behind, though.īy February 2020, O'Brien had won gold in the C4 500-metre time trial at the World Para Cycling Track Championships in Milton, Ont.

#Sour patch kids crash team racing cracked#

Then O'Brien's life changed dramatically.Ī crash during training at the Calgary velodrome in July 2017 left her with life-threatening injuries, including a serious head injury, a punctured lung, broken clavicle and cracked ribs. In Rio, though, she finished well off the podium, 13th in the keirin, 14th in the sprint and eighth in the team sprint. O'Brien, 33, knows better than most - she's in the unique position of having competed at both the 2016 Rio Olympics and the Tokyo Paralympics this summer.Ī former bobsled athlete who competed for Canada in the 2013 world championships before suffering a torn hamstring, the Calgary native shone in the velodrome at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, winning gold in the team sprint and silver in the women's individual event. 'Being here with other Para athletes has shown me how friggin' fast they are at what they do.' Because having a knee injury is not different than being paraplegic and yet, somehow, we still put them into different categories. 'There doesn't need to be as much of this division between able-bodied and Para. And all humans are the same,' she told The Canadian Press in a phone interview from Tokyo on Tuesday.

The track cyclist says the Games have also showed her just how little separates elite Para athletes from their able-bodied counterparts. Kate O'Brien is taking more than a silver medal away from the Tokyo Paralympics.

2022.09

Sour patch kids crash team racing