Aussie snowboard star Tess Coady has been a star of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Australia after claiming the nation’s first medal.
Her bronze in the slopestyle event and her brilliant act of sportsmanship when she and American silver medallist Julia Marino rushed New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, who claimed he nation’s first ever gold medal at a Winter Games, endeared her straight away to the country.
But while Coady always appeared to have a giant smile on her face an a “let’s go” up her sleeve, she has revealed she was battling a nightmare injury before the event.
Winter sports are synonymous with injuries and crashes as they slide across icy surfaces, but it appears that Coady was lucky to even compete at the event.
The 21-year-old was left sore after a fall from a jump in practice two days before the final.
After missing out on the PyeongChang Games in 2018 after suffering an ACL injury, Coady was not about to miss out again, revealing she competed with a fractured ankle.
Speaking on Channel 7, Coady said: “I ended up fracturing it a little bit, a little one, a tiny fracture.”
The revelation took both hosts Matt Shirvington and Emma Freedman aback.
“Sorry?” Freedman said. “Well that’s news.”
“Sorry, sorry, you won a bronze medal with a broken ankle?” Shirvington said.
Through laughter as though she was making a fuss, Coady replied: “Nah, it wasn’t broken”.
Freedman yelled: “It’s a break Tess.”
Shirvington responded: “A fracture is a break”.
But despite their incredulity, Coady remained cool, continuing: “Yeah, but um …
“No, seriously, that was all the Australian medical team – they went to the end of the earth to help get me all good for finals.
“I did it (the injury) my last run of practice before qualis. I was going back up the lift and I was like ‘oh my god’.
“That was what was going through my head, the (ACL) four years ago. ‘This is gonna happen again.’
“I sort of bit my lip before I dropped in so it would be a little bit less painful but made it through, made it to the final.”
As if the bronze medal and celebrating your best friend’s gold medal didn’t make her Olympic medal sweet enough.