Anne Abernathy
Encyclopedia
Anne Abernathy is a luge
athlete from the United States Virgin Islands
and is the oldest female athlete to compete in the Winter Olympics. The 2006 Winter Olympics
were her sixth. Despite her age, she is a consistent competitor with frequent World Cup podium finishes, and she is consistently ranked in the top 20 world rankings. She is known within luge circles as "Grandma Luge."
in January 2004, and third place at the Nations Cup in Königssee
, Germany
, February 2004. She finished in the top 10 in seven of the eight events in the 2004-2005 Nations Cup series. http://www-11.fil-luge.org/Portals/0/extern/results/result2004_en.asp?redirect=FIL Abernathy finished 25th in the 37th World Championships
in 2004 in Nagano, Japan
, but did not compete in the 2005 championships in Park City
, Utah
due to injuries suffered during homologation
at the Cesana Pariol
track in Cesana, Italy
three weeks earlier.
Abernathy suffered a serious accident during a World Cup race in Altenberg
, Germany
in January 2001 that resulted in a severe brain injury. To recover from the injury, she used an alternative medicine
treatment involving controlling rockets in a video game through electrical impulses from brain waves, a therapy designed to help her retrain her brain to compensate for the damaged areas. The therapy was successful and Abernathy was able to return to competition in time to qualify for the 2002 Winter Olympics
.http://www.grandmaluge.com/crash.htm The story of Abernathy's crash and recovery was featured on the Discovery Health Channel
series Impact: Stories of Survival
.
During practice for the competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics
, Abernathy crashed and broke her wrist
and her scapula, and was forced to withdraw from competition.
Abernathy is the oldest woman to ever compete in the Winter Olympic Games, breaking the old record during the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. She is the only woman to qualify for 6 Winter Olympic Games and one of only two female athletes to compete in 5 Winter Olympics. In 2006, she became the first woman over 50 to qualify for the Winter Olympics.
Abernathy was the first woman to qualify for six Winter Olympics. In the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City she became the oldest woman to ever compete in the Winter Games. She is the oldest female Olympian in any Olympic Games (Winter or Summer) and the first woman over the age of 50 in the Winter Olympics.
During the Albertville
Winter Olympics, she became the first athlete to compete with a camera on board. A feat that was nominated for an Emmy in technical broadcast achievement.
In the 1994 Winter Olympics
in Lillehammer, Norway, Abernathy became the first athlete to create an on-line diary (now known as a blog) which was an exclusive on AOL.
Before her first Olympic appearance in 1988
, Abernathy was diagnosed and treated for non-Hodgkins lymphoma (cancer). Although the cancer returned several times during her sports career, the fact was kept hidden from the public through 3 Olympic appearances until it was revealed in a front page article of the Washington Post prior to the 1998 Nagano Olympics
.
Luge
A Luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine and feet-first. Steering is done by flexing the sled's runners with the calf of each leg or exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. Racing sleds weigh 21-25 kilograms for singles and 25-30 kilograms for doubles. Luge...
athlete from the United States Virgin Islands
United States Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands of the United States are a group of islands in the Caribbean that are an insular area of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.The U.S...
and is the oldest female athlete to compete in the Winter Olympics. The 2006 Winter Olympics
2006 Winter Olympics
The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XX Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Turin, Italy from February 10, 2006, through February 26, 2006. This marked the second time Italy hosted the Olympic Winter Games, the first being the VII Olympic Winter...
were her sixth. Despite her age, she is a consistent competitor with frequent World Cup podium finishes, and she is consistently ranked in the top 20 world rankings. She is known within luge circles as "Grandma Luge."
Career
Her top finishes include third place at the Nations Cup in Igls, AustriaAustria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
in January 2004, and third place at the Nations Cup in Königssee
Königssee
The Königssee is a lake located in the extreme southeast Berchtesgadener Land district of the German state of Bavaria, near the border with Austria...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, February 2004. She finished in the top 10 in seven of the eight events in the 2004-2005 Nations Cup series. http://www-11.fil-luge.org/Portals/0/extern/results/result2004_en.asp?redirect=FIL Abernathy finished 25th in the 37th World Championships
FIL World Luge Championships 2004
The FIL World Luge Championships 2004 took place February 13-15, 2004 at the Spiral track in Nagano, Japan. This marked the first time the event took place in Asia.-Men's singles:-Women's singles:-Men's doubles:-Mixed team:-Medal table:...
in 2004 in Nagano, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, but did not compete in the 2005 championships in Park City
Park City, Utah
Park City is a town in Summit and Wasatch counties in the U.S. state of Utah. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake City's east edge of Sugar House along Interstate 80. The population was 7,558 at the 2010 census...
, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
due to injuries suffered during homologation
Homologation
Homologation is a technical term, derived from the Greek homologeo for "to agree", which is generally used in English to signify the granting of approval by an official authority...
at the Cesana Pariol
Cesana Pariol
Cesana Pariol was the venue for bobsled, luge and skeleton during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. The track, built for the games, is located in Cesana...
track in Cesana, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
three weeks earlier.
Abernathy suffered a serious accident during a World Cup race in Altenberg
Altenberg, Germany
Altenberg is a town in the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the Ore Mountains, close to the border with the Czech Republic, 15 km northwest of Teplice, and 32 km south of Dresden....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in January 2001 that resulted in a severe brain injury. To recover from the injury, she used an alternative medicine
Alternative medicine
Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....
treatment involving controlling rockets in a video game through electrical impulses from brain waves, a therapy designed to help her retrain her brain to compensate for the damaged areas. The therapy was successful and Abernathy was able to return to competition in time to qualify for the 2002 Winter Olympics
2002 Winter Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event that was celebrated in February 2002 in and around Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Approximately 2,400 athletes from 77 nations participated in 78 events in fifteen disciplines, held throughout...
.http://www.grandmaluge.com/crash.htm The story of Abernathy's crash and recovery was featured on the Discovery Health Channel
Discovery Health Channel
Discovery Health Channel is a website owned by Discovery Communications, created for people interested in health and wellness. Until December 31, 2010, it was a U.S. cable television specialty channel dedicated to television programming that highlights various aspects of health and wellness...
series Impact: Stories of Survival
Impact: Stories Of Survival
Impact: Stories of Survival is a documentary television series that premiered in 2002 on and was produced by the Discovery Health Channel. The program is based on life-threatening situations in which the victim experienced a moment of impact...
.
During practice for the competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics
2006 Winter Olympics
The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XX Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Turin, Italy from February 10, 2006, through February 26, 2006. This marked the second time Italy hosted the Olympic Winter Games, the first being the VII Olympic Winter...
, Abernathy crashed and broke her wrist
Wrist
In human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as 1) the carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand;...
and her scapula, and was forced to withdraw from competition.
Abernathy is the oldest woman to ever compete in the Winter Olympic Games, breaking the old record during the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. She is the only woman to qualify for 6 Winter Olympic Games and one of only two female athletes to compete in 5 Winter Olympics. In 2006, she became the first woman over 50 to qualify for the Winter Olympics.
Abernathy was the first woman to qualify for six Winter Olympics. In the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City she became the oldest woman to ever compete in the Winter Games. She is the oldest female Olympian in any Olympic Games (Winter or Summer) and the first woman over the age of 50 in the Winter Olympics.
During the Albertville
1992 Winter Olympics
The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 8 to 23 February 1992 in Albertville, France. They were the last Winter Olympics to be held the same year as the Summer Olympics, and the first where the Winter Paralympics...
Winter Olympics, she became the first athlete to compete with a camera on board. A feat that was nominated for an Emmy in technical broadcast achievement.
In the 1994 Winter Olympics
1994 Winter Olympics
The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Lillehammer failed to win the bid for the 1992 event. Lillehammer was awarded the games in 1988, after having beat...
in Lillehammer, Norway, Abernathy became the first athlete to create an on-line diary (now known as a blog) which was an exclusive on AOL.
Before her first Olympic appearance in 1988
1988 Winter Olympics
The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event celebrated in and around Calgary, Alberta, Canada from 13 to 28 February 1988. The host was selected in 1981 after having beat Falun, Sweden and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy...
, Abernathy was diagnosed and treated for non-Hodgkins lymphoma (cancer). Although the cancer returned several times during her sports career, the fact was kept hidden from the public through 3 Olympic appearances until it was revealed in a front page article of the Washington Post prior to the 1998 Nagano Olympics
1998 Winter Olympics
The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially the XVIII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 7 to 22 February 1998 in Nagano, Japan. Seventy-two nations and 2,176 participans contested in seven sports and 72 events at 15 venues. The games saw the introduction of Women's ice...
.