As fun as sports can be to watch, the joy is always balanced by the prospect that one or more athletes could suffer serious injuries during the competition. The 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea have been largely without incident so far by way of injuries, but U.S. luger Emily Sweeney fell victim to a particularly dangerous crash that easily could have resulted in debilitating pain. Thankfully, Sweeney was deemed okay and she was able to walk away from the accident, though no longer as part of the competition.
On Tuesday night in PyeongChang, luger Emily Sweeney was in 14th place after three runs, and it was during her fourth shot that the unfortunate crash went down. As Sweeney was reaching Curve 9, which has developed a reputation among Olympic lugers for being so slippery and hard to handle, she slid upward so that her feet smashed into the right (upper) wall, which sent her careening back down into the left wall. The crowds went from loud cheers to shocked silence as the impact caused Sweeney to fly off of her luge sled and go sliding across the ice.
After the crash, the luge competition was temporarily halted as medical professionals rushed in to check on Emily Sweeney, who was conscious and aware, though still not standing yet. It wasn't long, however, before Sweeney was able to stand up and walk off the ice, and she was met with resounding cheers and applause from fans and spectators. She actually said she was okay at that point, and it was confirmed that she had no broken bones or anything of that nature, though she was then taken to the hospital for further evaluation.
You can check out the crash in the video below.
A Sergeant in the New York Army National Guard, Emily Sweeney fought for years to make her Winter Olympics debut. She'd initially missed out on the 2010 Winter Olympics team after losing to her sister Megan, and then also missed out on the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia. Sweeney is just 24 years old, though, so we can hopefully count on her returning to competition for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
NBC and its various networks will be airing the PyeongChang Games for their duration, so check your local listings to see what events will be shown and where. Check out how The Walking Dead has been trolling Olympics fans, and then head to our midseason premiere schedule to see what new and returning shows will be around when the competitions are over.
