High-Flying Superstar Sarah Burke Dead at 29

World champion freestyle skier Sarah Burke, only 29 years old, has died of massive brain injuries, suffered just a few days ago while training for the upcoming X Games.

Sarah came to our Billie Jean King Women's Sports Foundation black-tie dinner in New York most Octobers over recent years. Her bold passion for her sport, and insistence that women in her sport be included in the Olympics (a crusade she single-handedly fought and won) was palpable. Finally, after winning 4 X Games gold medals, Sarah was primed to fulfill her long-term vision and win Olympic gold in Sochi, Russia, 2014. That dream is not to be fulfilled.

I will remember Sarah as a huge smile and constantly open personality, to go along with that fighting spirit. She knew each of the 100 athletes at the end of our weekends in New York, could recall their sports stats, the names of their parents and children and dogs. There was no doubt that we were going to witness the high-flying, maverick super-piper on the gold medal stand in Sochi.

May the magnanimous soul and champion spirit of the ebullient and talented Sarah Burke rest in peace forever.

 

Follow Diana Nyad on Twitter: www.twitter.com/diananyad

Comments

[ArchAngel]

09:53 PM on 01/22/2012

If the public is paying to see a sport where death is a serious possibility, then it is not a sport it is a stunt.

Public sports should be about witnessing skill and strength and not the spectacle of risk and mayhem.

[Dunelm]

06:59 PM on 01/22/2012

And what is sad, too, is the fact that a news report stated that her family needs help to pay the medical bills. Good old USA--but, of course, we don't need health reform (at least according to some).

[wayne the pain]

06:01 PM on 01/22/2012

Carl Wallenda of the high wire act the Flying Wallendas said before falling to his death in his 70's, "life is on the wire, everything else is just waiting". We will miss Sarah. She left us doing what she loved!

[Joanne Cee]

03:05 PM on 01/22/2012

Beautiful tribute. So sad Sarah Burke is lost at such a young age. It was exceedingly generous of her family to help someone else in their grief, and donate her organs.

[AbeMartin]

11:13 AM on 01/22/2012

Thank you for providing a touching eulogy for Ms. Burke. Few people who have never competed in the upper echelons of their sports, or pushed their minds and bodies to their ultimate limits understand that striving to be the best or the strongest or the fastest carries considerable risk. I commend all athletes, including you (of whom I first became aware when you swam around Manhattan Island more than 30 years ago) who push the level of achievement further. Ms. Burke, though denied the chance to fulfill her ultimate dream, was instrumental in enabling others to fulfill theirs.

[kahunacook]

10:10 AM on 01/22/2012

Thank you Diana for providing us with even further insight into Sarah as a person. She sounds like the kind of person anyone would be proud to call a friend. What a legacy she has left for herself; excelling at her sport, driving it into the global spotlight, and helping others with with the donation of her organs. She will be missed.

[the-saint]

06:09 AM on 01/22/2012

sadly it seems alot of the good die young..

[mgm5]

09:08 AM on 01/21/2012

What a shame.....

[thoreau101]

08:33 AM on 01/21/2012

Nothing is worth, as an individual, risking your life for.

[expattam]

10:46 AM on 01/22/2012

That's entirely your choice, and your opinion. Her's was obviously different. Personally, I refuse to live my life out of fear. We all die; it's just a question of how well we lived. She lived as she chose to, and very few people can say that. She will be missed, surely, but what a life! I applaud her bravery and perseverance.

[MachCrit]

05:43 PM on 01/22/2012

"The only cats worth anything, are the cats taking chances."

Thelonius Monk

[huffingtonsurferdude]

10:43 PM on 01/22/2012

One thing to take a "chance" in music like Monk, another thing to take a chance on breaking your neck or severing a major artery in hotdog skiing. Someone who doesn't do the latter, can hardly be said to be not "worth anything." Duh!

[John Roman]

11:49 PM on 01/20/2012

Who'd have thought half-pipe snow-boarding to be so dangerous....
Anyone with a smile like that has got to be special; in her case, special in life and in death. Very sad.

[garystartswithg]

12:01 AM on 01/21/2012

Snow sports are a lot more dangerous than most people want to think they are. I was a spoiled brat and went to winter camps when I was a kid -- every year we had people end up with broken parts. the weirdest thing was we never thought twice about it, just sucked to be the one with the broken spine.

[eciousiam]

10:22 AM on 01/22/2012

yeah it is,not safe and hope that all players will think their safety before doing any sports.

[beninabox1]

01:32 AM on 01/21/2012

One quibble: It's not snowboarding. It's actually skiing, which is why it's taken a while to get into the Olympics (snowboarding half-pipe has been included for years).

[UES11]

10:21 PM on 01/20/2012

Nicely said.

[EnglishLavender]

07:38 PM on 01/20/2012

This is such a terrible thing, but I am so very grateful that she became an organ donor. She may have been a star in the X Games, but in the real world, she is now a true hero. She has change the course of the lives of probably at least 3 people, if not more.

[SwiftJonathan]

05:26 PM on 01/20/2012

It is sad that another extreme sports athlete has died, but it proves, again, that pushing the human body to the limits of the physically possible is dangerous. There will have to be a public discussion if we really want these new gladiator games to establish themselves in society.

[garystartswithg]

12:04 AM on 01/21/2012

life is what you make it, she made hers, its up to you to make yours as well.

[beninabox1]

01:35 AM on 01/21/2012

why a need for discussion? Lots of sports are dangerous and its practitioners allow us vicarious thrills. Boxing, auto racing, downhill racing, football, ice hockey. Death tolls in all.

[noms de guerre]

04:28 PM on 01/20/2012

Many blessings to her and her family. She will be missed.

[camelias and sweet tea]

04:18 PM on 01/20/2012

My heart goes out to her family..what a shame, what a horrible shame..