Commentators have labeled her Comeback Cassie.
Cassie Sharpe of Comox, who only got back on snow in November, won the silver medal Thursday at Genting Snow Park in women’s ski half-pipe in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
The Islander became a double Olympic medallist, following up her gold from Pyeongchang 2018. But a near-devastating injury in the 2021 Winter X Games at Aspen, Colorado put Beijing 2022 in doubt after the Islander tore her MCL and ACL and fractured her femur.
“I have worked so hard these past 11 months to try to overcome and get ready for this moment,” said the 29-year-old, who has Cassie’s Run named after her on Mount Washington, in honour of her gold medal at Pyeongchang. 2018
Sharpe landed confidently and firmly on her surgically rehabilitated left knee throughout this week in Beijing to win the 2022 Olympic silver medal behind Chinese team teen sensation Eileen Gu, the Californian who won her second gold medal of the Games for her mother’s ancestral homeland.
Canada placed two on the podium with Rachel Karker of Erin, Ont., capturing the bronze medal. Gu had a best run of 95.25, Sharpe 90.75 and Karker 87.75.
Many didn’t give Sharpe a chance to even be in Beijing following her injury.
“I’m [in] Beijing swinging, to bring home another medal,” she responded.
She did just that.
“Cassie went within the year from not walking, to winning the Olympic silver medal. That’s pretty special and pretty emotional,” said dad Don Sharpe, who was Mount Washington director of business operations and marketing for nearly two decades.
“The passion drive and love for the sport all started on Mount Washington,” added Don Sharpe, who was unable to be slope side in Beijing, as he was in Pyeongchang with his wife and Cassie’s mon Chantal, because of COVID restrictions.
The Sharpe family and friends watched Thursday in Whistler. But another B.C. mountain was not far from mind.
Cassie Sharpe celebrates the Island with a tattoo on her arm of Mount Washington, based on what she describes as a “sick aerial photo” of her home hill.
“I bring a piece of home with me to the world,” said Sharpe, a graduate of Highland Secondary.
She has now taken that piece with her to her second Olympic medal.
Her brother, Darcy Sharpe, is also became an Olympian and competed in freestyle snowboarding in Beijing. The two grew up spending endless hours swooshing down Mount Washington.
“Neither of us would be where we are without Mount Washington. That’s where we fell in love with the sport,” said Cassie Sharpe.
“We were always pushing each other.”
All the way to the Olympic podium in Cassie’s case.
The Sharpe siblings are among the five Island athletes in the 2022 Winter Games, alongside gold-medallist Micah Zandee-Hart of Saanichton in women’s hockey, Victoria-produced Adam Cracknell in men’s hockey and Mount Washngton-produced Teal Harle of Campbell River in men’s ski freestyle.
