2010 Olympics: J.R. Celski goes from medical miracle to bronze medalist
J.R. Celski, medical miracle turned bronze medalist, wants to show you something. He reaches into his pocket, pulls out his iPhone. He scrolls through his photos, scrolls some more.
There it is. He pops it up. He smiles, as if it were a gruesome badge of honor, this image of a massive, seven-inch hole in his left leg, just above the knee.
“I look at it all the time,” the 19-year-old Celski says.
He was sitting in a press conference room Sunday, about 20 hours after he won an Olympic bronze medal in short track Saturday night, finishing right behind his boyhood hero, Apolo Anton Ohno, in the 1500. It is a feat that will be hard for any U.S. athlete here to surpass, given where Celski was 154 days earlier, his blood gushing onto the ice at the U.S. Olympic trials as if someone had turned on a spigot.
“I thought my whole career was over,” Celski said. “I thought at one point that I might die that night.”
J.R. Celski grew up in Federal Way, Wash., and comes out of Pattison’s West, the same in-line skating club that produced Ohno, who tied Bonnie Blair as the most prolific Winter Olympian in U.S. history with his silver medal in the 1500. Celski has long been regarded as Ohno’s successor as the nation’s top short-track skater, a standing he confirmed when he won five medals in last year’s world championships.
And then it all seemed certain to be taken away, on the night of Sept. 12 in Marquette, Mich. Celski was skating in the semifinals of the 500 meters when he lost his edge and crashed into the wall, hitting it hard, the front of his right skate blade carving into his left thigh, almost to the bone.
Suddenly, the arena went quiet. Celski’s agonizing cries were about the only audible sound. He never lost consciousness. He pulled the blade out of his leg, looking at the wound and seeing what he describes as “a rainbow” - blue and purple and white and yellow, and yes, red.
His parents, Bob and Sue Celski, were in the stands that night.
“I’m so grateful that we didn’t lose him, because we could’ve,” Sue Celski said. “God had a different plan for him.”
Celski was rushed to the hospital, but it could have been faster. The ambulance driver didn’t put on his siren, and stopped at lights. At the hospital, no surgeons were on hand.
Finally, he was operated on, the muscle pieced back together, the wound taking 60 stitches to close. Not long afterward, Celski found out he had earned enough points to qualify for the Olympics. That seemed a completely unrealistic goal, but Celski wasn’t deterred. He and his father flew out to Park City, Utah, to consult with Dr. Eric Heiden, team orthopedist for U.S. Speedskating and the five-time gold medalist of the 1980 Games, who evaluated the injury and helped set up treatment. The plan would be carried out by Dr. Bill Moreau, of the Olympic Training Center medical staff. Celski dived into the program, riding a stationary bike, walking, doing hydro-therapy. The physical therapists pushed him, hard. Celski basically told them: bring it on.
Said Sue Celski, “He never took it like he was a victim, like he wanted people to feel sorry for him.”
Celski’s first race back on the short track was here, the other night. He says he still has to fight being tentative, still gets flashbacks. He has two more Olympic races - the 1000 and the 5000-meter relay - to go. He said he can’t really begin to describe the emotions he has been through between Sept. 12 and Saturday night. He smiled again.
“Not many people were expecting me to be here,” J.R. Celski said.
To read this New York Daily News article in its original form, click here.
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Tags: 1500 Short Track, Apolo Ohno, Bronze Medal, Celski, Eric Heiden, J.R. Celski, Olympic Trials, Olympics, Speed Skating, Vancouver, Winter Olympics