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by Lindsay Nash, STAFF WRITER published February 16, 2006 6:00 am
ASHEVILLE - There's only one mutual enemy at the Winter Olympics.
With figure skaters attempting throw quad salchows, the snowboarders landing flip and spin combinations and skiers tearing down the slopes of Turin, it's usually the resulting injuries that tend to dump Olympic dreams down the drain.
Some sneak up - the culmination of a prior nagging injury. But there's also the falls, crashes and burns that come without warning. The series of frightening crashes in the downhill, luge and figure skating this week in Turin highlight the extremity of Olympic sports and the dangers that come with competing.
"Just given the extreme nature of some of these sports, (the injuries) are not that surprising," said Anne Riddle Lundblad, an elite ultrarunner and emotional counselor for athletes.
But along with the string of freak accidents is the usual wear and tear on the body and the stress involved with competing on a world stage.
"I think as an elite athlete, you are constantly walking that thin line of trying to get as much as possible out of your body but not going over the edge," said Lundblad, who finished second in last year's World Cup 100k in Japan, just seconds behind the world leader.
"I can only speak as a runner, but there is not a day or run that goes by that I don't feel a twinge or ache in my body," she said.
Injuries and accidents are common occurrences in sports, especially at higher levels of competition and training, said Brian Lawler, director of sports performance enhancement at Blue Ridge Bone & Joint in Asheville.
"Athletes must peak at the Olympic tryouts, and several weeks later, they have to compete and they're not at their best anymore," Lawler said. "They are forced to maintain that certain level of performance."
Lawler attributes many sports injuries to the stress on the nervous system, which serves as the control center for the body.
"I think for high-level athletes, there is a lot of stress on the nervous system, which doesn't recover very well, and the heightened emotional stress also comes into play," he said.
"The emotional stress of the brain and whole nervous system and the psychological stress of competing in the world's most visible and prestigious event brings (the competition) to a whole new level."
On a more local stage, the injuries are still prevalent.
Jason Hemphill, a defensive lineman for the Carolina Ghostriders indoor football team in Asheville, has been practicing with the newly-formed team for one week and is already in physical therapy for a medial calf injury.
"It's frustrating," the 28-year-old Columbia, S.C., native said. "It's the first week of practice and you're trying to impress the coaches. And you know you're better than what you're doing. I just feel two steps behind."
The sports may differ, but the terminology is usually the same - knee pains, torn ligaments, concussions, stress fractures.
For figure skating, it's usually a wrenched lower back and knee problems that wreak havoc with the skaters, said Charlotte-based figure skating coach Candy Aylor.
But more than the usual aches and pains of the sport is the demand for more complicated jumps and spins, said Aylor, the former head of the now-defunct Asheville Figure Skating Club.
"I think we expect so much," Aylor said. "We want faster, bigger, more, more, more."
With the new figure skating judging system, skaters are anteing up the technical portion of their programs, attempting triple jumps and quads and other elements that were once beyond the reach of figure skaters.
"It's really sad," Aylor said. "That's a lot of pressure. And the country expects you to perform your best ... I miss the old skating - the Peggy Flemings, the Scott Hamiltons, the Paul Wileys. (The sport) has lost its art."
Since the Olympics started on Saturday, there have been about 10 total injuries, starting with Michelle Kwan's groin injury.
Despite the injuries, the athletes usually come back for more, including the Chinese skating pair Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao, who continued their long program despite a knee-jarring fall on Monday.
"It's a one-time event, and it only comes every four years," Lawler said. "So as an athlete, you push yourself and hope for the best."