Allison's Recovery

[aaosmts19]

Hm....some very intersting insight in this article.

www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_13023788

Broken leg can't shatter Baver's spirit

By John Meyer
The Denver Post
Posted: 08/09/2009 01:00:00 AM MDT


Allison Baver's return to short-track speedskating "is almost a miracle," says a U.S. team coach. (Harry How, Getty Images )Six months have passed since a gruesome crash during a short-track speedskating race severely threatened Allison Baver's chances of competing in the Vancouver Olympics, not to mention the ability to walk normally the rest of her life.

But even now, when she describes the moment she realized her suddenly broken leg could cost her an Olympics, her voice cracks and she struggles to speak.

"It was right when I tried to stand up and I couldn't," Baver said. "My leg was, like, gone. I couldn't stand up, I immediately knew something was wrong, and I knew it was bad. Then I thought about the Olympic Trials being really early this season, and the Olympic Games."

One year and five days before the 2010 Games, Baver suffered a pilon spiral fracture of her right tibia just above the ankle when she crashed into the boards during a World Cup meet in Sofia, Bulgaria. Pilonis French for pestle, an instrument used for crushing or pounding. When Baver crashed, her ankle bone pounded her tibia like a sledgehammer. She also broke her fibula and suffered cartilage damage.

Ordinarily, the short-track Olympic Trials are in December, but this time around they are two months early, Sept. 8-12 in Marquette, Mich. Baver could have used extra time to rehabilitate, having returned to the national team training group only eight weeks ago after an accelerated recovery and rehabilitation.

"I have no choice but to be confident," Baver said, choking up again. "I'm going to be, hopefully, ready no matter what — or as ready as I can be. I just have to have confidence that I've done everything possible in order to be the best that I can on that day."

Training becomes a rush job

Six months before the Vancouver Games, Lindsey Vonn and her fellow U.S. alpine racers are in New Zealand for an on-snow training camp. The U.S. nordic combined team just returned from Europe, where it trained with the French team and climbed the famed Alpe d'Huez on road bikes. Figure skaters are fine-tuning programs after summer competitions, and the luge team leaves soon for training in Liechtenstein and Italy.

Most have months before they need to be in top form.

Baver has 31 days to get there, given the realities of her devastating injury. Making the team would have been a foregone conclusion for her if not for the injury — she was firmly established among the top three in the world in the 1,500 meters.

"Her comeback is almost a miracle, the way she's skating right now with the short amount of time she had to recover," said Laurent Daignault, a U.S. short-track coach. "I feel like she's on the right track. She probably won't be at 100 percent but very close, maybe 90. That might be enough for her to qualify — hopefully."


Harding-Kerrigan flashback

A two-time Olympian from Pennsylvania who dated Apolo Ohno for more than six years, Baver has an MBA and a modeling contract with the Wilhelmina agency. She had high hopes for Vancouver until teammate Katherine Reutter bumped her on a turn that day in Bulgaria and sent her into the boards feet first.

Baver said Reutter's contact was illegal, and that it wasn't the first time Reutter went over the line. Sometimes she wonders if Reutter was trying to "sabotage" her career. "When Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan was happening, Nancy Kerrigan was saying, 'Why, why me?' " Baver said. "That's exactly what I thought. That's exactly how I felt."

Reutter insists it was "certainly not deliberate" and said she was heartsick about Baver's injuries.

"I remember our blades kicking together," Reutter said. "She was passing and her arm swing was out in front of me. I kind of fell forward and trapped her arm. I was trying my hardest to stay up, but the (centrifugal) forces pulled us both out. It really couldn't be stopped because I was out of control, on the verge of falling, and she was on the outside of me."

While Baver lay on the rink, a Bulgarian trainer jumped over the boards and started pulling on her leg. It's all there, painful to watch, on YouTube ("Allison Baver Breaks her Leg").

"If you watch the video, he's holding my foot and you can't hear it, but I'm screaming," said Baver, who will be 29 on Tuesday. "The whole ice rink is like dead silent. I'm in pain and he's yelling, 'Traction!' As he's pulling it, ever so slightly, I'm screaming. I wasn't crying, I was screaming."

There were no gowns in the Bulgarian hospital and no crutches. A team trainer went out and found crutches for Baver at a consignment shop.

"She was very optimistic"

Baver flew home two days later and had surgery 12 days after the accident, in Philadelphia, then spent six weeks with her mother in her hometown of Sinking Spring near Reading. An aunt took care of her mornings, her mother would come home during her lunch break from work, and her father would come by in the afternoon.

"For the first couple weeks I think she almost thought it was surreal," recalled Baver's mother, Dixie. "She cried a little bit, but the whole rest of the time she was very optimistic. She maybe, a few times, had thoughts that she might never skate again, but it was so few times that her positivity overtook all that negative outlook."

For two and a half months, Baver was forbidden to put any weight on the leg. In April, still barely able to push a pedal on a bicycle, she relocated at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for rehabilitation and physical therapy that included the use of a bone stimulator intended to speed up the healing process. She was able to stand in the shower for the first time on April 19, amazed how good it felt to have both feet on the ground. On April 28 she could ditch the crutches.

Courageous comeback

By mid-May she was training on The Incline, a brutally steep 1,700-foot climb at the foot of Pikes Peak long used by Olympic athletes for an intense and character-building workout.

"It was a goal of mine because a doctor said I would never be able to go up and down steps again," Baver said. "Everything I did, we pushed to the limit. I made sure I was doing everything I possibly could to come back."

One of her doctors told her it might be three to five years before she could skate, but on May 23 she was back on the ice. It was a tentative, 15-minute session with extreme pain, but it convinced her she had a chance to succeed with her comeback. In mid-June she resumed training with the national team on the Olympic Oval near Salt Lake City, where she has to share the ice with Reutter.

Time is running out and Baver still battles pain, but the ordeal will be worth it if she can succeed at the trials.

"I know I won't be my best, although everyone else will," Baver said. "I can be confident in all the work that I've done, and hopefully that will be enough."


Baver's fall, and rise

Feb. 7: One year and five days before the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Allison Baver fractures her right tibia just above the ankle in a World Cup race in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Feb. 19: Has surgery to repair fracture with insertion of a plate and three screws.

April 5: Travels to Colorado Springs to begin intensive rehabilitation at Olympic Training Center, including use of a bone-stimulating machine in hopes of speeding up healing.

April 28: Discards crutches.

May 23: Takes first tentative strides on skates at Sertich Ice Center in Colorado Springs.

June 15: Resumes training with national team at Utah Olympic Oval.

Sept. 8-12: Olympic Trials, Marquette, Mich.

Feb. 12-28, 2010: Vancouver Olympics

[susie]

Aug 9, 2009 14:17:10 GMT -5 aaosmts19 said:

A two-time Olympian from Pennsylvania who dated Apolo Ohno for more than six years, Baver has an MBA and a modeling contract with the Wilhelmina agency. She had high hopes for Vancouver until teammate Katherine Reutter bumped her on a turn that day in Bulgaria and sent her into the boards feet first.

Baver said Reutter's contact was illegal, and that it wasn't the first time Reutter went over the line. Sometimes she wonders if Reutter was trying to "sabotage" her career. "When Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan was happening, Nancy Kerrigan was saying, 'Why, why me?' " Baver said. "That's exactly what I thought. That's exactly how I felt."

Reutter insists it was "certainly not deliberate" and said she was heartsick about Baver's injuries.

"I remember our blades kicking together," Reutter said. "She was passing and her arm swing was out in front of me. I kind of fell forward and trapped her arm. I was trying my hardest to stay up, but the (centrifugal) forces pulled us both out. It really couldn't be stopped because I was out of control, on the verge of falling, and she was on the outside of me."

Allison made similar allegations during the course of the radio interview that she did in Marquette. I held my tongue then, but I'm no longer willing to hold it.

In that radio interview, Allison said that Katherine blocked her and bumped her. My feeling after listening to that interview was that she was throwing Katherine under the bus.

I remember the World Cup where Allison got injured. It was one of those meets where an absolutely ridiculous number of DQ's were getting called. My feeling is that under the circumstances, if Katherine had done anything to merit a DQ, she most certainly would have drawn one, especially considering the devastating nature of Allison's injury.

I've watched Katherine skate four times right in front of me, and I've never seen her skate anything but cleanly. I have seen Allison try to actively interfere with another competitor however. At the SLC U.S. Championships in December of '07, I saw Allison trying to elbow another skater to get around her. The other skater wasn't having it. She wasn't doing anything to interfere with Allison, but neither was she going to tolerate what Allison was trying to dish out. I don't think that Allison drew a DQ for that, but she sure deserved it.

I have to admit that when the news came out about the incident in Bulgaria (and especially in light of Katherine's comments about same,) I wondered if Allison was trying a similar maneuver.

I understand that Allison is very, very disappointed (and very, very competitive,) but she really needs to suck it up and watch what she says. Her comments do not reflect well on her.

I do admire the gutsy way that she has tried to bounce back from this injury.

[gasp]

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

The creed and motto are meant to spur the athletes to embrace the Olympic spirit and perform to the best of their abilities.

Enough said

[gasp]

On 2nd thought.

Great post Susie. Allison has overstepped her bounds. Though I'm a great fan of Katherine's I have also cheered Allison on and ALL of the ladies. Guess I can rest my voice when and if Allison is on the ice.

[autumnsbliss]

I'm a big fan of all the ladies, meeting and chatting with Katherine and her dad personally, she's a very fun and carefree person by our conversation. Granted none of us here know exactly how each of the ladies relationships are on and off the ice but you would hope that respect and encouragement for their fellow teammate is high on their priority when working hard towards their own dreams.

By going off this and last year season it looks like Kimberly and Katherine were improving by leaps and bounds. Allison may have the endurance and experience in which kept her as the lead lady for awhile but it looks like Kim and Katherine (along with Lana and Jessica) are starting to gain knowledge of the sport and competition which have closed and even surpassed Allison. For someone as determined as Allison I know that has to be very frustrating, plus adding all the trials of her health and now injury just don't help. Sometimes when bad things happen to you, you wonder what could have happen, why it happens to you, and many times blaming others for your misfortune. I believe Katherine did not mean to tangle with Allison, as we all can see that when someone falls the laws of Physics takes over and unless you are lucky or far enough away the person falling, you are going down too. So I'm sure Katherine has apologize and feels bad for what happened and to think she did it intentionally is something I highly doubt. I do wish Allison a speedy recovery and hope she gets on better terms with Katherine because I doubt this article sat well with Katherine (I know I wouldn't like being excused of trying to end someone's career) and possibly other teammates which can cause some tension with the team, something we definitely don't want.

[bubblebuttsbabe]

Aug 9, 2009 21:25:22 GMT -5 susie said:

Aug 9, 2009 14:17:10 GMT -5 aaosmts19 said:

A two-time Olympian from Pennsylvania who dated Apolo Ohno for more than six years, Baver has an MBA and a modeling contract with the Wilhelmina agency. She had high hopes for Vancouver until teammate Katherine Reutter bumped her on a turn that day in Bulgaria and sent her into the boards feet first.

Baver said Reutter's contact was illegal, and that it wasn't the first time Reutter went over the line. Sometimes she wonders if Reutter was trying to "sabotage" her career. "When Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan was happening, Nancy Kerrigan was saying, 'Why, why me?' " Baver said. "That's exactly what I thought. That's exactly how I felt."

Reutter insists it was "certainly not deliberate" and said she was heartsick about Baver's injuries.

"I remember our blades kicking together," Reutter said. "She was passing and her arm swing was out in front of me. I kind of fell forward and trapped her arm. I was trying my hardest to stay up, but the (centrifugal) forces pulled us both out. It really couldn't be stopped because I was out of control, on the verge of falling, and she was on the outside of me."

Allison made similar allegations during the course of the radio interview that she did in Marquette. I held my tongue then, but I'm no longer willing to hold it.

In that radio interview, Allison said that Katherine blocked her and bumped her. My feeling after listening to that interview was that she was throwing Katherine under the bus.

I remember the World Cup where Allison got injured. It was one of those meets where an absolutely ridiculous number of DQ's were getting called. My feeling is that under the circumstances, if Katherine had done anything to merit a DQ, she most certainly would have drawn one, especially considering the devastating nature of Allison's injury.

I understand that Allison is very, very disappointed (and very, very competitive,) but she really needs to suck it up and watch what she says. Her comments do not reflect well on her.

I do admire the gutsy way that she has tried to bounce back from this injury.

I have to agree with this wholeheartedly. I respect her as an athlete, but I don't think her comments are justified - at all.

[breidy]

Allison's comments are not justified, BBB. All one has to do is look at the video of that race to see what happened. It is inexcusable in my book for Allison to use the name Tonya Harding in the same sentence as Katherine Reutter. Allison needs to remember that when she points the finger at another there are three fingers pointing back at her. Unsportmanship at its greatest. If she's trying to rattle Katherine's cage before Olympic trials she better be careful. It may come back to haunt her.

Susie I really appreciate your comments ^^.

[justsayin]

Agree with all the posts above. Very, very poor form all around on Allison's part.

I also wonder if she is thinking about where she is positioning herself for pre-Olympic publicity should she make the team. She could have been spotlighted for her grit and determination. A true "fighting back from the brink" story. Now she has set herself up to be questioned for her motives and have the focus on this allegation instead of the merits of her skating.

She's also set her teammates up. Interviews with any of the female or male skaters are likely to include a question on their position on this allegation. Its very unfair to taint their moment in the sun with this personal attack. But you know the media is going to be all over a story of infighting on the team.

Had she taken the high road here, I would not have been surprised if there had been a standing ovation for her in Marquette the first time she was announced to skate. I will be there and will not be participating if anything like that should happen.

[goaao]

Well put everyone, I completely agree with all that has been posted. I was surprised by her comments, I always thought she was classier than that. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out as the season progresses.

Off subject: I thought they dated 2 years not 6

[susie]

Aug 10, 2009 10:12:58 GMT -5 goaao said:

I thought they dated 2 years not 6

Allison is probably folding in the time where "friendship" might be a more apt description. And based solely on my own observation at three meets, it was an often strained friendship.

She's been very devoted to Apolo, no question.

If Allison is able to make the team, I hope that she can put her bitterness behind her and work on developing a more positive image.

[gasp]

quoting Susie above: "...work on developing a more positive image."

Does anybody have the number for Zig Zigler?

[susie]

Allison is forgetting that Katherine is her teammate. If Allison makes the team, she will be working with Katherine and the other women to medal in the Olympic relay (something that I think is a very real possibility for our women's team in Vancouver.)

I remember watching Katherine's reaction when she was informed in St. Louis that Allison had made the team for the spring World Cups, Worlds, and World Teams. It was a very hearty, sincerely meant, "Good!". Katherine wants a strong women's Olympic short track team as much as anyone. Kudos to her for keeping it classy.

[bubblebuttsbabe]

Aug 10, 2009 13:48:43 GMT -5 gasp said:

quoting Susie above: "...work on developing a more positive image."

Does anybody have the number for Zig Zigler?

with a name like zig ziglar, how do you get taken seriously as a motivational speaker, is what i want to know! lol.

but anyway, i don't think allison needs him - she needs to look around at the people next to her (including katherine) and those that came before her. they did it right.

[mtnme]

Despite the fact that I had vowed to never post another thing on GA ever again, the current discussion instills in me the intense desire to throw in my two cents and play ‘devil’s advocate’.
My viewpoint is bound to be unpopular, but since I have already been made out to be the devil himself incarnate anyway, hey, I really have nothing to lose.

In no way am I condoning what was said about Katherine if these remarks truly were what came out of Allison’s mouth. It may very well be how Allison feels, and she has every right to her feelings, but putting the ‘filter’ on when talking to reporters and the media would probably be a much wiser option.

That being said, my own experience with writers and so called journalists has certainly proved to me that 95 percent of what is printed or reported is BS and another 4% on top of that is BS with an asterisk. Elaborate embellishments, quotes taken out of context, deleted information and plain outright fabrication appears to be the norm if it sells more papers, gets more viewers and gets more attention.

My first foray with the press was publication of a kitchen I designed. I came out of the article relatively unscathed, but the clients were made out to be complete and absolute imbeciles. I was horrified – they, mortified. Of the extensive interviews done by all, very little of what was actually done on the project or said by anyone made it into the article, the writer and editor of the magazine having their own agenda, which was to change the facts to fit the story they wanted to tell. And that story was all fiction.

My second project published, I personally wasn’t so lucky. The article was for the complete house remodel for author Amy Tan. Not only was I the designer on the project, but my employer, the contractor, became gravely ill during the process. In addition to all the design work, I was also now project manager and running the job site, scheduling subs, (and getting on their case when they didn’t show up) ordering product and all the other things required to deliver a construction job on the date promised. When the article came out, there was so much misinformation it bordered on libel, and I was made out to be nothing more than a minimum- slave -wage earning lackey instead of the design professional I had worked so hard to be.

Needless to say, I was livid, and wanted nothing more than to have said ‘journalist’ hunted down by a pack of wild dogs and their heart cut out – with a spoon.

I mention the above as my point being, I wouldn’t be so quick to put all your stock in everything you hear or read. Note that in reference to the paragraph in question, the only actual quote attributed to Allison is the ‘why me?’ excerpt. Well to be perfectly honest, if I had trained for years to be an Olympian and I had my leg shattered or my knee wacked in an Olympic year, I’d be tempted to throw myself a little pity party and wail ‘why me?’ as well. So how much of that article is from Allison, and how much the writers embellishments for maximum drama and controversy? Call me a cynic, but I liken this to my own personal take on the bruhaha during the Torino Olympics between Shani and Chad. Was the supposed animosity really ‘all that?”- or had it just been milked by the media for everything it was worth for maximum drama. Say what you will, but controversy sells, and no controversy sells better than a good, old fashioned, vicious rivalry between determined competitors.

And no rivalry proved that point more vividly than the Harding/Kerrigan incident. Up to that date, that Winter Olympics was the most highly viewed in US history, the viewers for the night of the ladies figure skating final shattered all records, and the sport gained a surge in popularity for several years afterwards than it had ever enjoyed previously. (to the point that now pundits regularly proclaim that when interest is waning that it’s about time for someone’s knees to get wacked again) Sad to say, but when it comes to publicity, there apparently IS no such thing as bad publicity. (…unless you’re Michael Phelps apparently -and you’re caught on camera doing something incredibly stupid)

All this being said, I’m not such a staunch supporter of Allison that I think she doesn’t mean it or said it, what I AM saying is that I don’t underestimate the media machine for a minute.
Case in point: All those who believe that Apolo, - (who up to this point has been a relatively private, under the radar type of guy,) - either suddenly got hypnotized or seriously bonked on the head and decided he was now Mr. Gregarious, and just absolutely, positively HAD to ‘reach out and touch someone’ – EVERYONE – right now! -on every single social network in the free world in a matter of 3 days – raise your hand and say ‘aye’.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed them. The inspirational tomes have often been a real shot in the arm when I could use one. But they’re not all that personally introspective and I see them for what they are….media.


What bothers me more is the ‘fair weather fandom’. It’s dangerous, not to mention completely unfair, to put these young folks, (who let’s face it, are often young enough to be our kids), on a pedestal of superhuman perfection, and then to be angry with them when they turn out to be, just like you and me, all too human. I’m not making excuses for Allison, just pointing out the cold, harsh truth.

Anyone who has never made a mistake, a social gaffe or said something that they probably shouldn’t have, raise your hand and say ‘aye’.


And on that note, I’ll exhibit a little of my own bad behavior….

mrsrobinson - … kiss my ass.

[bubblebuttsbabe]

Aug 10, 2009 22:25:04 GMT -5 mtnme said:

Despite the fact that I had vowed to never post another thing on GA ever again, the current discussion instills in me the intense desire to throw in my two cents and play ‘devil’s advocate’.

My viewpoint is bound to be unpopular, but since I have already been made out to be the devil himself incarnate anyway, hey, I really have nothing to lose.

Anyone who has never made a mistake, a social gaffe or said something that they probably shouldn’t have, raise your hand and say ‘aye’.

And on that note, I’ll exhibit a little of my own bad behavior….

mrsrobinson - … kiss my ass.

um, what?! (i swear, there's as much drama in the 'stands' as there is in the 'heatbox' and on the 'ice'.)

oh and - "aye."

and whoa. ;D