Page 21 - aruba-today-20180127

A21
SPORTS Saturday 27 January 2018

Bowe’s back, bruised but unbowed and bent for skating gold

By RAF CASERT wanted to be back as
AP Sports Writer quickly as possible and,
HEERENVEEN, Netherlands somehow took a bronze in
(AP) — Bump into a skating the 1,000 meters when she
teammate on the ice, and came to the historic home
besides some black and of Dutch skating in Heeren-
blue bruises, chances are it veen for the World Cup
ends up being a bunch of that December.
laughs, too. It was the equivalent of a
Not for Brittany Bowe. mirage — a sudden dash
One such clash turned her of hope belying disastrous
world class career upside circumstances.
down at the height of her One year later, she still can-
powers — a personal night- not get over it.
mare from which she is “I came out here to a World
emerging only just in time Cup and lost out on a gold
for the Olympics. medal by just a couple of
At first, the July 2016 col- tenths of a second, and
lision in Kearns, Utah, left then two weeks later, say-
her dazed and with a sore ing I can’t skate anymore,”
head, which was diag- she said.
nosed as a concussion. Still, And like so many Olym-
expectations were that a pians can attest, at the
few weeks would take care height of their career, com-
of it. peting is the be-all end-all
“A few weeks turned into a of their life. “If I am not skat-
few months, turned into a ing, then what am I doing,”
year,” Bowe said. And then was her existential ques-
some. tion.
At 28, she was the double She would go back home
world sprint champion and to Ocala, Florida, to put the
had won 10 gold medals pieces together again, but
in the previous World Cup it didn’t work out at first. In this Nov. 11, 2017, file photo Brittany Bowe, of the United States, competes in the women’s
500-meter race of the Speedskating World Cup at the Thialf ice rink in Heerenveen, Netherlands.
season. “With concussions, it is kind
The way she hugged the in- of an invisible injury,” she She had “crazy symptoms.” to being on a recumbent again the star on the Olym-
ner curves of the oval, her said, and it could leave “My equilibrium was kind bike being able to bike for pic women’s team togeth-
sheer speed — she was sim- even teammates or friends of off, I would have dizzy five minutes at a time.” er with Heather Bergsma.
ply among the very best in oblivious to her real prob- spells, I would have fainting Yet, she pulled through. Suddenly, she has that tun-
the world. lems. It sometimes left her episodes. And with those Over the summer, she re- nel vision and narrow focus
“Things had been going exasperated. negative episodes came turned to the Salt Lake City again, the mark of a cham-
awesome,” she said. “There’d be times where panic, came anxiety, things skating center for training pion.
Then she was flat on the people, I wouldn’t see that I had never struggled among her teammates, “Ultimately this year, the
ice, barely knowing what them for a while — ‘you with mentally,” she said. and it made all the differ- only thing that matters is
had happened after she look great. You look so Fortunately for Bowe, time ence. She was back on the Olympic Games,” she
was blindsided into the healthy, you look great’ — did its essential work — ever the World Cup circuit in said. “I mean, we get one
crash. She was able to get and inside, I’m dying inside, so slowly. Heerenveen in November, chance every four years to
up quickly and gingerly because I know my head is As spring beckoned, she winning races in the 500 prove ourselves.”
skate around a bit, un- not on my shoulders where went to the U.S. Olympic and 1,000, even if only in What preceded it though,
awares that, in a blink of a it normally sits,” Bowe said. training center in Colorado the second-tier B division. may be life-changing.
moment, she had just hit a At that point, it was not so Springs, ready to start all And she capped her re- “I’ve learned some things
fundamental point in her much returning as a sports over again, from scratch. covery at the U.S. national about myself that I am go-
life. Nothing would be the star but more recovering as The change was daunting, trials, where she qualified ing to take with me on the
same in far too long a time. a normal human being that from “skating at a high lev- for the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 ice and in the future of my
Super competitive, she was her prime concern. el on the World Cup circuit meters in South Korea, life,” she said.q