The sports world – and most people – love an Olympic “hero overcomes adversity” story, and another Canadian snowboard team member – Mark McMorris fits the template perfectly.
At Sochi 2014 Winter Games, McMorris won the Bronze Medal in the Olympic debut of snowboard slopestyle for Canada’s first medal of the Games. That came just two weeks after he had broken a rib at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado. This was just the first major injury in a string of injuries that were to follow.
In February 2016, he broke his right femur in a crash landing at a Big Air competition in Los Angeles. Off his snowboard for eight months, Mark had a fantastic comeback in 2016-17, including winning the Big Air World Cup – a test event for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics. Unfortunately in late March 2017 he sustained multiple injuries in a backcountry snowboarding accident, including fractures to his jaw, left arm, pelvis and ribs as well as a ruptured spleen and collapsed left lung. Despite the severity of his injuries Mark made yet another comeback. He won the first competition he entered, a Big Air World Cup in Beijing in late November 2017. He went on to win his second straight slopestyle Bronze Medal in the PyeongChang 2018 Games, sharing the podium with Silver Medallist teammate Max Parrot.
Mark’s painful recovery continued after the 2018 Games. Among the various surgical procedures, he underwent “hardware removal from my femur and my jaw.” Mark observed that given all his injuries it has been a lot of work just to get moving some days.
“Physically, I’m doing amazing, but it would be better if I didn’t break 17 bones four years ago,” McMorris said. “I’m so thankful to be where I am.”
Mark’s secret sauce – gratitude that he can bounce back – and win. His is the only Olympian to win three consecutive Bronze Medals in the same event.
