Grandma is Out of the Competition

“Grandma Luge” has removed herself from competition at the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.

Anne Abernathy is an amazing woman. At age 52 she would have been one of the oldest competitors in Turin, and the oldest woman. Representing the Virgin Islands, this would have been Abernathy’s six Winter Olympics competing in the luge. She made her debut back in 1988 when the Winter Olympics were held in Calgary.

While Abernathy was never really considered a threat, her longevity in the sport of luge (including battling back from cancer) has been inspirational to many of her fellow lugers. She also took pride in the fact that she was over 50 years old and still competing on a national stage.

Unfortunately, during a practice run on Sunday, Abernathy’s sled crashed. She was rushed to the hospital where it was discovered that she had broke her wrist. Due to the injury Abernathy had to pull herself from the competition.

An interesting note to end this story is that Abernathy has not ruled out coming back and competing at age 56 in the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.