The death of freestyle skier Sarah Burke had forced extreme sports safety into the spotlight.
Burke, 29, died Thursday, nine days after crashing on a half-pipe course in Utah. Winter X Games champion and the 2005 World half pipe gold medalist suffered “irreversible brain damage to her lack of oxygen and blood after the heart,” according to a statement from her Publicist.
Competitive skiers and snowboarders is no stranger to injuries that range from serious to fatal. In 2001, the United States Wednesday, gold medal-winning skier Bill Johnson suffered a near fatal accident which puts him in a coma during an attempt to qualify for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Recently, the Olympic Games of Turin 2006, skier Lindsey Vonn crashed during a training run. The accident ended his expectations of metal but he was able to go with just a hip injury.
Kevin Pearce say snowboarding trip of a lifetime to give him a crash in Utah halfpipe 2009 left him with a traumatic brain injury (TBI). After struggling through years of rehabilitation, Pearce regained his ability to speak, walk, eat and, in December, he hit the slopes for the first time since the accident.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that nearly 1.7 million Americans suffer TBI each year. Experts say about the causes of sports injuries, and the nature of extreme skiing and snowboarding make this sport very dangerous.