Ski jumping : “Everything inside the knee was destroyed or damaged”, says Thea Minyan Bjoerseth
On 15 February in Ljubno (Slovenia), Thea Minyan Bjoerseth led the competition after the first round. Ten days later, the world championships began at home in Trondheim (Norway). ” I remember thinking that I was going to cross the green line, because I was going to win this competition,” she told NRK.
But on landing, her left ski gave way. In an instant, the Norwegian lost control and seriously injured her knee. “I felt something was wrong. But I told myself it wasn’t that serious”, she recalls. A few seconds later, she was lying on the snow, unable to move.
The diagnosis: rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament, the posterior cruciate ligament, the medial ligament and the meniscus. ” In simple terms, everything inside the knee had been destroyed or damaged,” explains the 22-year-old jumper.
Orthopaedic surgeon Guri Ekaas, who has been the Norwegian team doctor for ten years, had never seen such an injury in a ski jumper. ” It’s a dislocation of the knee – a type of trauma we see after road accidents or falls from great heights”, she explains. In addition, she had a dislocated elbow, which she also operated on. Two major operations, a long stay at Oslo University Hospital, and a suddenly empty sporting horizon.
Eight months later, the Scandinavian is training atOlympiatoppen, the leading centre for Norwegian sport. She does one rehearsal after another, under the watchful eye of her physiotherapist Maren Stjernen. “I’m really impressed. She’s doing really well,” says Stjernen. However, the 22-year-old Norwegian is facing another battle: that of patience. “I want things to progress. I’m not very good at waiting”, she admits.
Christian Meyer, the women’s team coach, remembers the first exchanges after the fall: “It was difficult to find the words. There was a lot of silence. She was very sad. He was keen to reiterate that she was still a key athlete for the future. “You can feel very alone after an injury like that. I wanted her to know that she had not been forgotten,” he says.
The next Olympic Games in Italy are now out of reach. But the Norwegian is keeping her eyes fixed on another goal: a return to the springboard next summer. And, even further away, the World Championships in Falun (Sweden) in 2027. “It will be difficult, but that’s my goal. Even if I couldn’t aim for the Olympics, I need something to look forward to,” she concludes.
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