Alpine Skiingthe interview
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The champion from Bergamo, back on skis since last Friday in Foppolo, and her story (and those who lived alongside her) of those 23 days from the injury in Cortina to the Olympic silver medal, in the Sky docufilm airing these days. "I experienced that injury as an injustice, but above all for the pain inflicted on the people I love". Dr. Schoenhuber's emotion is a truly unique challenge.
Sunday 1 January 2023 18 minutes reading time
“23 days. The miracle of Sofia Goggia".
Sky closed the year and opened 2023 by proposing a truly splendid product on Friday in preview and then in various reruns, the docufilm which tells in every detail the Olympic feat of Sofia Goggia, in search of the golden encore of PyeongChang 2018 despite a knee injured in that terrible crash in Cortina.
From 23 January to 15 February 2022, from the left knee with the partial lesion of the cruciate and the fractured head of the fibula, to the downhill silver just 16 cents from Corinne Suter, for the umpteenth record-breaking recovery of a champion who, even in recent days, has shown how special he can be by winning in Sankt Moritz 24 hours after the fracture in his left hand. By the way, before the closing weekend of 2022, Sofia was back on skis in her Foppolo, for a couple of days between the dwarf poles before getting serious again, to prepare for the mid-January appointment in St Anton, from Tuesday 3 January on "La VolatA" at Passo San Pellegrino together with his teammates.
FROM PARADISE TO HELL
“In Cortina it was a weekend which, within 30 hours, contained my peaks – the words of the three-time winner of the downhill crystal ball, to open the docufilm – From triumph to the abyss, it is incredible that only I can get jumps like that, but I think skiing reflects exactly who you are, how you are and your character”.
From her friend Chicca Gregis to the skiman, Barnaba Greppi, there are many testimonies full of anecdotes. “In practice there were the signs - says the technician who has been preparing the skis for the fellow region since the 2020/21 season - but also in the race, I'm talking about the downhill, despite winning he had taken tremendous risks. Fate has presented her with the bill”.
“I went downhill like a villain – Sofia admitted – also because there was a very strong wind, but that green light and the apotheosis in front of the children I had high-fived after the reconnaissance, see the people get excited for you... there is nothing more beautiful than hearing the love of the fans. Then, instead, I was doing a perfect super-g: in reconnaissance I had seen that bump, but with the cuts of light on the Scarpadon I didn't take it into consideration and...”.
"I immediately felt pain in my knee - continues the story of that January 23rd - I said no to the toboggan because I couldn't leave Cortina like this, I put on skis and believe me when I tell you that in the stretch from the fall to the finish line to greet the fans, I no longer felt in my legs, I was almost paralyzed and I knew well that I had something serious, not the classic blow".
“She said excuse me, I'm sorry – explains “Babi” - I admit I'm tough in these situations, also to make her understand things in a certain way, and I replied that she should have thought about it first. I also told her, however, that she had the strength and the possibility to go to the Olympics, that all was not lost".
Then the helicopter ride to Milan, which the direct protagonist reveals starting from the emotions of leaving her Cortina in that way: "Seeing the people who love you with those eyes makes you collapse too, because if for myself I can bear even pain hallucinatory, there is a meltdown when I bring it on to others because of me. I experienced this injury as an unjust punishment for myself, but also for what was inflicted on the people I love. Yes, because the reality is that I appear very sure of myself, but I am often pervaded by fear; on the other hand, I've always been an introspective child, making others share little of my loneliness and my sufferings”.
“When I got off the helicopter, I had 150 meters to go to the meeting point at the bar, but I didn't even have crutches and I couldn't walk. I leaned on the two helicopter pilots crawling with my feet on the ground...".
Here Dr. Herbert Schoenhuber enters the scene, honorary president of the FISI medical commission after leading a crucial sector of the Federation for years, which he "handed over" to Andrea Panzeri. "Sofia told me that this time she had done it big, she knows each other well and she understood immediately". “She was heartbroken, but she still had the light in her eyes even though she knew she had little hope for the Olympics – Dr. Panzeri himself intervenes, speaking of those moments before the decisive visit to the La Madonnina clinic – She kept saying she could take no more, a year after losing the World Cup in Cortina. We pampered her because, when she arrived, she only needed that”.
“Herbert did the classic “drawer” to test the knee and he immediately told me that there was something in the crusader, I didn't know what to feel and hope inside of me. The resonance didn't even come out since I kept sobbing and moving – continues Sofia – then after the umpteenth photo, I heard the doctor shouting “Sofy, the crusader is still there”. There is... so to speak”.
“Partial subtotal injury of the anterior cruciate ligament already reconstructed in the past - summarizes Dr. Panzeri - with compound fracture at the head of the fibula, bone edema and 1st-2nd degree injury to the medial collateral. Already taken individually, they are a lot of stuff in terms of damage, put it all together 23 days before the Olympic descent, it seemed like something too difficult to manage. Testing the knee in her hands and knowing of her stubbornness, we said to Herbert that she, however, could have done it”.
TOWARDS THE MIRACLE
“Schoenhuber gave me ten days before going back on skis, Panzeri added that we would all try together only if I really believed in it. I said to myself: if you don't try for the Olympics, what are you trying for? For me, the Games are everything and there are few things you really risk in life for.
I remember well the day, it was February 1, when my teammates left for China. I entered the gym on crutches and at the thought that they were at Malpensa, I burst into tears and slumped to the ground, holding myself tight to squeeze out all my tears. After a quarter of an hour, I started working”.
“I went to see Sofia in Verona, six days after the injury – Panzeri continues – He already believed in it and wanted to discuss the situation with me, I was amazed at how much the knee had changed in less than a week, with incredible progress . I told Herbert that he would have made it to the Olympics and he would have made a garone”.
“It was a crazy, desperate journey – again Sofia – I had lunch three times in twelve days, going to bed at ten in the evening exhausted. A very difficult path, but extremely rewarding on a personal level. The strength I've found from people, who carry you up like an elastic net, has been unimaginable. In Beijing I would have gone in crazy shape, even if maybe when healthy I would have done worse than on one leg, but the human value found by those who accompanied me on that journey is something legendary.
In Val d'Ultimo I did a day of skiing, I said to myself "ok, I can't bend my leg, but to hold... it holds". I made it clear, we looked at each other at the end of the day and decided to go to Beijing. I remember on that flight thinking that the journey was over and a new chapter was beginning, so I was scared because I was safe at home, while there I would have found myself alone, despite the national team staff and many people available. I tried to ski as much as possible, but the snow was very hard, a completely different crystal than what we find in Europe. They were very complicated days, then I fell at the third training gate the day before the super-g and I thought it was all over there again”.
"At that moment the world collapsed around her, we went back because the psychological blow had been important", adds Dr. Panzeri.
"When the downhill trials began, it seemed as if nothing had happened - confesses Gianluca Rulfi, technical director of the national team - That was the real miracle".
“There was a moment that clicked, when I showed up to scout for the first run. I had studied everything, asking Lindsey (Vonn, ed) for the report on distances, doors, lines, any idea that could help me. I didn't have so many pains that day: when I read Beijing 2022 in the starting house, there I had the click and I told myself that this was the reason that gave meaning to my suffering. At the end of the training session, I joined my arms and took a deep breath: I can do it, it was one of the best moments of the Olympics”.
"They canceled the third stage and it was a problem - the Bergamo native continues in her story - I understood the track, but I had to adopt different lines and a different strategy, not being able to count on my physique, because I couldn't do the curves as I wanted. Just as I knew well that I couldn't squeeze myself well in the sliding sections, since I didn't bend my leg. I came down half on my feet even in the race...".
"He tested on one leg, for me he couldn't ski - here's Barnaba Greppi again in his frankness - We looked at each other with Feltrin and the thought was shared: this one will either be destroyed or she will have a great race".
“The day of the race I was very tense, I watched it on TV without expecting anything. I was just hoping everything would go well and it would arrive... in those moments (Dr. Schoenhuber's voice chokes, in a moment of emotion) there are very strong emotions, even if you've been used to it for years of racing. Then it was a liberation”.
"I felt I skied well on average, but in the final plan I didn't have the sensation of flying, instead decelerating slightly - Sofia analyzes her Olympic silver descent like this - When I saw that I had arrived 4 tenths ahead of Nadia I rejoiced, but inside me I immediately had the conviction that those cents would not have been enough for me to win gold”.
The beautiful and sincere compliments from Ragnhild Mowinckel in Sofia appear in the docufilm, then her friend Chicca who confides the first post-race message. "She answered me with a French language to the fact that she had finished second, she would have liked another medal".
Again Rulfi and Greppi: "After a while, she too understood that it was a question of a silver won and not a gold lost".
Sofia's final comment already makes one dream, thinking of Milano Cortina 2026: “I won silver for what my path has been, it has immeasurable value, however I like to think that in those 16 cents of gap that gave me divided by gold, let there be hunger that will feed this four-year period”.
Curtain, hat, applause.
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