We often speak of “miraculous recoveries”. In reality they are the result of passion, determination – combined with the help of increasingly advanced medical science – and often even a pinch of madness. These are the ingredients that quickly bring athletes back to competitive spirit that an injury seemed to have put out of action for a long time, if not forever.
The silver won today by Sofia Goggia in the free ascent of the Beijing Games, 23 days after the fall of Cortina, is just the latest example.
There are several precedents that tell the accelerations of athletes, even at the cost of taking risks. As it happened to Marc Marquez in 2020, when he then paid for the risk of being back on track two days after the operation on his right arm, which was fractured in Jerez. He fared better, in 2013, a Jorge Lorenzo. The Spaniard breaks his left collarbone in Assen, in Thursday’s free practice. Operated the same night, the day of the race (Saturday) he is at the start and finishes fifth, just 35 hours after the intervention.
USA soccer world cup ’94. Franco Baresi, captain of Italy is injured. The diagnosis is worrying: meniscal tear in the right knee. Arthroscopic surgery follows. The patient is so motivated that he returns to the field on July 17, in time for the final against Brazil, just 25 days later.
Another world dream that seems to be breaking is that of Francesco Totti, on February 19, 2006, when an intervention by the Empoli Vanigli threatens to jeopardize the career of the Roma captain. Fibula fracture, at least 5 months off, but after 100 days Totti is already racing towards the title.
In the match between Parma and Brescia, Coppa Italia 2004, Roberto Baggio suffered the rupture of the cruciate ligament of the right knee and injury of the external meniscus. A very serious injury, even more so for a 36 year old. But the ‘divine tail’ does not give up and returns to the field 81 days after the surgery.
Another exemplary case is that of the skier Pirmin Zurbriggen who, shortly after seriously injuring his knee (under meniscus surgery) during his first downhill victory on Kitzbuhel’s Streif, managed to take the first of his 4 World Cups in the overall standings in 1984. In 2001 the Austrian Hermann Maier is hit by a car while it is in motion. He even risks having a leg amputated. But in 2003, after various operations, he returns to the competition and the following year he wins his fourth World Cup.
Returning to the bikes, the lightning return of Valentino Rossi, in 2010, at Mugello, when in practice he reported the exposed fracture of the tibia and fibula of the right leg. Two interventions follow, but 30 days later Rossi is riding a Yamaha SBK, on the Misano track. After 41 days he is in the race: at the Sachsenring he comes fourth.
Source: Ansa
I have been working in the news industry for over 10 years now and I have worked for some of the biggest news websites in the world. My focus has always been on entertainment news, but I also cover a range of other topics. I am currently an author at Global happenings and I love writing about all things pop-culture related.
