BEIJING (AP) — Polish luge athlete Mateusz Sochowicz went back to the Peking University hospital this week, entering the facility for the second time this season.
The first trip was so doctors could tend to his badly injured legs.
The second trip was to thank them for saving his Olympic hopes.
“I have proved to myself that nothing is impossible,” Sochowicz said.
Sochowicz escaped what could have been a catastrophic injury at the Yanqing National Sliding Center back in November, when he crashed into a metal gate that was inexplicably blocking the track during a training run. His left kneecap was fractured, his right leg was cut to the bone, and he was probably fortunate that his injuries were not significantly worse.
Not even three months later, he’s back at the same track — set to compete in the men’s luge event that starts Saturday, the first official sliding competition of the Beijing Games. He’s not one of the medal favorites, a role that instead will be filled by the likes of Germany’s Felix Loch and Johannes Ludwig, Austria’s Wolfgang Kindl, Italy’s Dominik Fischnaller and Latvia’s Kristers Aparjods.
He is, however, one of the favorites among his peers, simply because of what he’s gone through.
“He’s amazing,” USA Luge’s Chris Mazdzer said.
Nobody knows quite how fast Sochowicz was going when the November crash happened; a reasonable guess would have him somewhere in the vicinity of 60 mph (96 kph). Sochowicz had time to see that the gate was…
