Setback '˜can make Katie better athlete'

Katie Ormerod has been backed to bounce back from her PyeongChang heartbreak by five-time Olympic medalist Dame Katherine Grainger.
Katie OrmerodKatie Ormerod
Katie Ormerod

The 20-year old snowboarder frfom Brighouse was considered one of Team GB’s best medal hopes in South Korea following a succession of podiums at World Cup level.

But two broken bones in the space of 24 hours means she watched the opening ceremony from hospital after undergoing surgery on a fractured heel.

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Ormerod, who was ruled out of last year’s World Championships after fracturing a vertebra in her back in pre-competition training, said she was “gutted.”

Grainger won three silvers before finally claiming rowing gold at London 2012 and now chairs elite funding agency UK Sport, who have set Team GB a stiff target of between five and ten medals for their £28 million investment.

“Only in time will it sink in what she’s missed out on here,” she said.

“She’s much younger than me and has had more injuries already than I had in my entire career.

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“If you handle these things right it can make you a better athlete, it becomes part of your character and you can be better for it. I know she will get past this and come back more enthused in four years time.

“She has always come back stronger from these setbacks in the past and I’m sure she will again.”

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