Sarah Burke was a pioneer, a Canadian freestyle skiier who was a multi-time X-Games Champion and who led the charge to get free style skiing (the half-pipe and slopestyle) events into the Olympic Games. Sochi, where these events will debut for the first time was supposed to be Burke’s showcase. She was likely to enter the games as a gold medal favorite, but that all changed in a training run in Utah, just over two years ago.
Burke fell during a routine training run, hitting her head in the process and slipping into a coma. On January 29, 2012; the 29-year-old World Champion passed away. She left behind a multitude of mourners, including her husband Rory Bushfield; her parents, Gordon and Jan Burke; and numerous other family, friends, coaches, teammates, fellow competitors, and fans.
In these Olympics, two of Burke’s closest friends Australian snowboarder Torah Bright and Canadian Roz Groenewoud were planning to wear tributes to Sarah Burke on their helmets, “Celebrate Sarah” stickers, as they do in every competition they enter, however the IOC has ruled that this will not be allowed in the events.
“On Sarah Burke, we have, as with a lot of the athletes here, huge sympathy,” said IOC spokesman Mark Adams. “She really needs to be well remembered, I think, and absolutely, we want to help the athletes to remember her in some way and there are all sorts of things we can do.
“We would, for example, help them if they wanted to have a press conference. They can obviously talk about her in various places. We can organize something in the Multi Faith Centre, either individually or collectively. We really feel that, and we really think she is an important person to be remembered.”
“It is not the rule that really is very important at all actually,” said Adams. “In cases like this rules are not the most important thing. For us it is a question of what is appropriate, and where would be the best place. As I say, we are very keen to help people who want to have a remembrance or do something and to do that in what would be the appropriate place.”
“I think just the general idea is that we want people to remember her, and we don’t think that in a competition, in the excitement and the celebration of a competition, is necessarily the right place,” said Adams. “We think that it’s a celebration place, and we don’t think that that’s the right place.”
And so the IOC, which has long billed the Olympics as a celebration of the human spirit, has banned these young women from having a tribute to celebrate the memory of their friend during the competition. According to the IOC, Sarah Burke’s memory should be celebrated, just not while their “sacred little competition” is actually taking place.
The decision comes on the heels of the discipline of the Norwegian Cross-Country Skiing team for their black armbands paying tribute to a fallen brother and friend.
Quite simply, these two decisions show how out of touch the IOC has become. They quite simply have no appreciation for basic human decency, and the feelings of mourning, and loss that the athletes feel. These people are not robots, they are men and women like any other, and the human emotion is part of the story. The beautiful tribute to a fallen friend, is part of the story of these games. To deny that is a travesty, and a rejection of the basic tenants of humanity that these games are supposed to be about.
Her friends though will rise above this, and still find other ways to honour Burke. Bright wrote on Instagram that “I am also here to honor my great friend Sarah Burke who left this world two years ago … Sarah is a beautiful, talented, powerful woman, [whose] spirit inspires me still. She is a big reason why skier pipe/slope are now Olympic events.”
Its just unfortunate that some petty people in the IOC won’t allow them to publicize this message on the biggest sporting stage in the world.
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @lastwordBkerr. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.
Interested in writing for LWOS? We are looking for enthusiastic, talented writers to join our writing team. Visit our “Write for Us” page for very easy details in how you can get started today!
