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Competing without an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her right knee was not enough to stop Australia's Belle Brockhoff from completing a remarkable comeback in the women's snowboard cross at the Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
Brockhoff finished 11th overall at Phoenix Snow Park on Friday, only two months after undergoing surgery following a second ACL tear, which had thrown considerable doubt over whether she would compete in Pyeonchang.
A full knee reconstruction would have ruled Brockhoff out of the Games, so instead she had minor surgery in December to clean out the joint and was only given medical clearance to race earlier this month.
An emotional Brockhoff, who first tore her ACL last March, was proud of her performance to make the semi-finals after such a challenging build-up to the Games.
"It's been a bit of a rough run in," Brockhoff told Channel Seven.
"I had an ACL tear in March and then came back and did my ACL again. I really wanted to be here, so I did everything I could to be here and represent my country and I'm really happy about that.
"I'm just really overwhelmed right now."
Brockhoff finished inside the top 10 in Friday's first qualification run before placing third in her quarter-final.
Her semi-final did not go to plan, however, with the two-time Olympian crashing but she recovered to take part in the small final where she was fifth to earn her overall ranking of 11th.
"I didn't sign up for this sport for it to be easy," Brockhoff said on Friday.
"It's just part of it … it just shows how much strength you can have as an individual. Self-belief goes a long way. I achieved a lot today and I'm really happy."
Brockhoff said she was keen to avoid surgery but she will undergo a medical assessment to see if she requires an operation.
Italy's Michela Moioli won the snowboard cross gold medal, with France's Julia Pereira de Sousa Mabileau (silver) and Czech Eva Samkova (bronze) also reaching the podium.
Australian figure skater Brendan Kerry showed the value of experience to qualify for the men's free skating program on Saturday.
Kerry, who was overcome with nerves four years ago in Sochi where he placed 29th, impressed in his second appearance at the Olympics to finish 16th in the short program with a score of 83.06.
Another Australian competing at his second Games, John Farrow, was 19th in the men's luge in what was his Olympic swansong.
Australia's cross-country skiers, Callum Watson and Phillip Bellingham, were 70th and 77th respectively in the men's 15-kilometre free event, with Switzerland's Dario Cologna winning gold.
Topics: sport, winter-olympics, winter-sports, snow-boarding, korea-republic-of
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