United States downhill skier Breezy Johnson stood at the top of the Olympic podium, tears rolling down her face as the U.S. flag was raised and the “Star-Spangled Banner” played. Johnson, hand over heart, had just done something that every Olympian dreams about: winning a gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
A couple hours before, Johnson had stood at the top of Olympia Delle Tofane in Cortina, Italy, ready for her chance at gold. As the timer went off, Johnson went flying down the course, and all her work throughout her life had come down to one minute and 30 seconds.
The Victor, Idaho, native navigated through a few rough patches, then glided down the course with the finish line in sight. Nothing was going to stop her. She crossed the line with a time of 1:36.10. Now came the hard part: waiting.
Johnson was the sixth competitor to go, and she had to sit and agonize as 30 more racers took their runs. It came down to 0.04 seconds, the difference between gold and silver. Emma Aicher of Germany crossed the finish line at 1:36.14, and Johnson was officially a gold medalist, only the second U.S. woman to ever win a gold medal in downhill skiing. The other was U.S. legend Lindsey Vonn in 2010.
For Johnson, this was much more than a race. It was redemption. Four years ago, a month before the Beijing Olympics, Johnson crashed on this same course, tearing her ACL and ending her dream of being an Olympian.
After her winning run in an interview with NBC, she said she “had to fall in love with the course again.” Four years of grit, determination and will led her to stand on top of the podium and hang a gold medal around her neck.
In an article by USA Today, she reflected on her win and the journey to get there.
“I think people are jealous of people with Olympic gold medals,” Johnson said in the article. “They’re not necessarily jealous of the journey it took to get those medals. I don’t think my journey is something that many people are envious of. And it’s been a tough road, but sometimes you just have to keep going, because that’s the only option.”
“And if you’re going through hell, you keep walking because you don’t want to just sit around in hell,” Johnson continued. “And sometimes when you keep going, maybe you’ll make it back to the top.”
Johnson embodies what it means to be a champion. Unlike other sports where athletes get annual chances at glory, Olympians wait four years between opportunities, making her comeback even more remarkable. She was counted out, injured on the very course where she would eventually triumph.
The day will be remembered as the day that U.S. legend Lindsey Vonn crashed and fractured her leg. But what Johnson did, overcoming an ACL injury on the same course and turning around to win the gold medal, marks her as a one-of-a-kind athlete, one who will leave a legacy far beyond skiing down a hill.
Johnson will be remembered not just for her magical run, but for her journey to get there and her will to never give up.