Sarah Burke – her light still shines
by Cheryl, posted on January 27th, 2012 in Just me
I did not know Sarah Burke. And yet, since she died last week at the age of 29 after a skiing accident, I can’t stop thinking about her.
Sarah was a freeskiing icon. She was also a true pioneer. She pushed for the sport’s inclusion in the X Games, in which she won four gold medals, and in her greatest accomplishment, halfpipe skiing will be included for the first time in the 2014 Winter Olympics.
She will not get the chance to go for the gold she was favored to win, the one she’d always dreamed of hanging around her neck. She ruptured her vertebral artery in a routine training run Jan. 10, then went into cardiac arrest. Her brain was deprived of oxygen, and though the surgery to repair the artery was successful, the damage to her brain was irreversible. She died nine days after her accident, with her family around her.
In looking at videos and photos and reading stories about her, Sarah was beautiful and, from all accounts, humble and kind and supportive of all women, even her competitors. She was the inspiration for many female skiers and, in her memory, will continue to be one.
But that’s not what touched me so much about her. She met her husband, pro skier Rory Bushfield, when they were barely teenagers. They married in 2010. There is a video clip that shows the two of them talking about each other, and the way they look at each other…I don’t know how he’s going to survive this loss.
They were free spirits who loved the mountains and each other. Maybe it’s living on the edge all the time, pushing that envelope, that makes them seem so alive. And when they die, it is that much more shocking. I hope Rory will find peace in the quiet of those mountains, in time.
Sarah lived life to the fullest, with passion and determination, and she was memorialized at the X Games on Thursday night. The lights went out on the superpipe and a procession of Sarah’s friends, coaches and fellow competitors made their way down, holding torches to light the way to the bottom where Rory (he’s wearing the green coat with the hood) and Sarah’s family waited.
It was beautiful. And sad.
I didn’t know Sarah Burke. But my thoughts are with her husband, who lost the love of his life, and for her family, who are now without a daughter, a sister, a friend.
The world will not be the same without her.
Tags: freeskiing, memorial, rory bushfield, sarah burke, winter x games
jenny Says:
Cheryl Reply:
January 27th, 2012 at 4:55 pm
I think it’s the way she approached each day with such energy, how much fun she seemed to be having, and the love she and her husband shared. She was an amazing person, and I think the amount of people who’ve didn’t know her but our moved by her, which is the best tribute to her.
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