Anne Abernathy
Abernathy in 2006
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 12, 1953 |
| Residence | Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands |
| Website |
anneabernathy grandmaluge |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Luge, archery |
| Updated on 1 July 2012. | |
Anne Abernathy (born April 12, 1953) is a luge athlete from the United States Virgin Islands and is the oldest female athlete to compete in the Winter Olympics. The 2006 Winter Olympics were her sixth. Despite her age, she is a strong competitor with numerous international podium finishes, and she is consistently ranked in the top 20 world rankings. She is known within luge circles as "Grandma Luge." She is training for the 2016 Summer Olympics as an archer.
Her top finishes include third place at the Nations Cup in Igls, Austria in January 2004, and third place at the Nations Cup in Königssee, Germany, February 2004. She finished in the top 10 in seven of the eight events in the 2004-2005 Nations Cup series. Abernathy finished 25th in the 37th World Championships in 2004 in Nagano, Japan, but did not compete in the 2005 championships in Park City, Utah due to injuries suffered during homologation at the Cesana Pariol track in Cesana, Italy three weeks earlier.
Abernathy suffered a serious accident during a World Cup race in Altenberg, Germany in January 2001 that resulted in a severe brain injury. To recover from the injury, she used an alternative medicine treatment involving controlling rockets in a video game through electrical impulses from brain waves, a therapy designed to help her retrain her brain to compensate for the damaged areas. The therapy was successful and Abernathy was able to return to competition in time to qualify for the 2002 Winter Olympics. The story of Abernathy's crash and recovery was featured on the Discovery Health Channel series Impact: Stories of Survival.
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