Cross-country skiing : “It means everything. It’s the whole universe to me,” says Bruna Moura
At the age of 31, Brazilian Bruna Moura realised her Olympic dream. 74th in the sprint qualifier and 99th in the individual skate, far from the top places, she was nonetheless greeted by a standing ovation at the finish. ” I’ve been waiting for this for so long,” she told Sportbladet after the sprint qualifier. “ It means everything. It’s the whole universe for me.”
And for good reason, her career path is out of the ordinary. For sixteen years, she has been aiming for the Games. First in mountain biking, then in cross-country skiing after a heart operation. In 2022, just as she had qualified, a serious car accident on the way to the airport almost cost her her life. The following year, she returned to the World Cup.
At the World Championships in Trondheim (Norway) last winter, when a single finish was enough to earn her Olympic points, she collapsed in the middle of the climb. “When I started the second lap, I couldn’t move. My body froze. I tried to take two or three more steps, then I fell. She adds: “I wanted to do it so badly that I lost my mind. My body said no.”
For her Olympic debut, the Brazilian slipped a photo of her best friend, who died suddenly of a pulmonary embolism, under her wetsuit. “We spoke one day. The next day, she was gone… It’s still difficult… She said she’d be there when I realised my dream. It was my way of having her by my side.
More than just a result, Milan/Cortina marks the culmination of a lifetime of fighting. ” We did it,” she concludes.
Read also
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- Léonie Perry, the seventh Frenchwoman to score an individual top 10 at the Olympic Games
- “It worked incredibly well”: another demonstration from the Swedes in the individual free skate
- Another Olympic bronze medal for Jessie Diggins
- Eighth in the individual skate, Alison Mackie posted the best result for a Canadian in 20 years
- Number 1, a fall and 51st place for Mélissa Gal in the individual skateboard event
- “It was a great race, I’m so happy”: the joy of Léonie Perry, tenth in the individual skate race
