All Sarah Burke ever wanted to do was have fun skiing, win the Olympics and help her sport grow.
Now, the 29-year-old Canadian freestyle skier lies comatose in critical condition at University Hospital in Salt Lake City, following surgery Wednesday to treat the serious head injury she suffered in a crash in the superpipe at the Park City Mountain Resort.
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Her prognosis is unknown.
But friends and fans buried social media sites with get-well wishes for one of the best skiers in the world, a pioneering icon in her sport who was revered in the ski and snowboard community for her spirit and dedication long before her devastating injury.
Burke "in many ways defines the sport," said Peter Judge, the CEO of the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association.
That’s because Burke has spent years not only competing at the top of ski superpipe — similar to snowboarding’s halfpipe competition, except on skis — but also pushing for gender equity within the sport and lobbying hard to get it included in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
She was considered a top medal contender, as a four-time gold medalist at the Winter X Games.
Burke began skiing when she was 5 years old, near her home in a small town in Ontario.
In a documentary film project produced last year by The Ski Channel, Burke recalled traveling with her father to competitions around Canada as a teenager, hoping to convince organizers to let her compete and "not understanding why I could beat half those boys, but they wouldn’t let me in the contests."
She also joked about repeatedly e-mailing the organizers of the Winter X Games, asking them when they would allow women to compete in her sport.
"Every female skier owes a debt of gratitude to Sarah Burke," the narrator says.
But Burke also knew the dangers of twisting and spinning high into the air and trying to land safely on the ice sides of the halfpipe.
"You’re going to take a lot of crashes learning and perfecting things," she told CBC Sports last year. "That’s something that you kind of know as you go into it."
The words sound haunting now, with her life in the balance.
Doctors performed surgery on Wednesday afternoon, according to hospital vice president Chris Nelson, though further details were not available.
Earlier in the day, Burke was in an induced coma with a breathing tube in her throat, according to Safdar Ansari, a neurointensivist with University of Utah Health Care. That’s standard protocol for treating a serious brain injury, said Robert Foxford, the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association’s team doctor.
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