ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) – Australian snowboarder Belle Brockhoff said on Thursday she was excited to compete in Beijing and mark her return to the Olympics after a number of injuries.
The 29-year-old competed in the last two Olympics at Pyeongchang 2018 and Sochi four years earlier but ruptured the ACL in her right knee during a training session in 2017.
She had surgery shortly before the Pyeongchang Games so she could compete, but missed the entire 2018 and 2019 seasons afterwards to recover.
That experience following the injury taught her patience, Brockhoff told reporters on Thursday, saying she now felt better than ever going into her women’s and mixed team snowboard cross events.
“My first Olympic Games I was a little bit of a Labrador puppy, second Olympic Games you know I had an injury … I learnt a lot from the injury and if I went back in time I wouldn’t change a thing, you know. So yeah, very happy, very excited to be here, just stoked all round.”
Brockhoff will be paired with Jarryd Hughes in the mixed snowboard cross, which is making its Olympic debut on Saturday.
“I’m stoked we have another medal up for grabs,” she said.
Hughes, who won silver at the 2018 Winter Games in the men’s snowboard cross, is a favourite to win gold this year.
“I think everybody knows going in the mission … each single one of us here on the Australian team is capable of winning,” the 26-year-old said on Thursday.
(Reporting by Mari Saito and Winni Zhou; Editing by Ken Ferris)
