ZHANGJIAKOU, China — Olivia Asselin will be given the time she needs to heal, physically and mentally.
The 17-year-old freestyle skier from Quebec City completed her first run of the women's slopestyle final at the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday with a minimal number of tricks before withdrawing from the competition.
Asselin finished the event 11th, only topping Marin Hamill of the United States who didn't complete any of her runs.
Peter Judge, CEO of Freestyle Canada, told media after the event that Asselin tweaked her knee in training and was also struggling psychologically with the pressures of competing at an Olympics.
"She's pretty devastated. I think as anybody would be, you know?" said Judge. "You get here, you want to do your best, you know your friends and family are there, you know your country is supporting you. You want to do as best as possible.Â
"She's pretty gutted, but she's a tough little girl and I think she'll bounce back."
Switzerland's Mathilde Gremaud scored 86.56 points on her second of three runs to put her in the lead. That score was just enough to give Gremaud the gold, after China's Eileen Gu scored 86.23 on her third run.
Gremaud had won bronze in big air earlier at the Beijing Games and silver in slopestyle at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.
"I now have a complete set of the three medals and that's really, really exciting and I'm really stoked," said Gremaud. "It's just insane. I've dreamed of this growing up. Just, no words."
Kelly Sildaru of Estonia led after the first run with a score of 82.06, enough for bronze.
Asselin earned 16.83 on her first run before retiring from the competition. Judge said that she had tweaked one of her knees landing a trick on Monday during qualifying.
"We were trying to wade through today to see what might be possible," said Judge. "She gave it a valiant effort. She went out the first run and it just wasn't working for her.Â
"We take the long-term health and welfare of our athletes — particularly a 17-year-old that's that has a long future in front of her — very seriously, so it was decided that she should pull out."
Asselin placed eighth in the big air event in Beijing last week and looked to make a promising run in slopestyle after she qualified 11th on Monday.
After qualifying, however, she mentioned to reporters in English and French that she was mentally fatigued. Judge acknowledged that Asselin was struggling psychologically.
"It's very difficult to understand for most people the stress in an Olympic Games environment," said Judge. "We saw it this summer in Tokyo with (American gymnast) Simone Biles, there's a weight.
"Particularly for a 17-year-old that doesn't have a lot of experience competing, that doesn't have a lot of experience at high level events yet."
Judge said that Asselin would have the full support of Freestyle Canada in her physical rehabilitation and with mental health supports.
"Not only sports psych but the full mental health of our athletes is one of the foremost things for us," he said. "We deal in a sport that has danger in it and certainly it's an element with athletes and with young athletes and spiriting them through that is an important thing for us."
The World Cup season is set to continue in Bakuriani, Georgia on March 3-5. Judge said that it wasn't yet known if Asselin would compete in that event.
"We have to weigh it out very carefully," said Judge at the base of the slopestyle course at Zhangjiakou Genting Snow Park. "It's a long trip home from here still. Then it's a quick turnaround to get to Georgia for the next event.
"We'll have to really monitor and see how her knee is doing and how she's doing psychologically and physically."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2022.
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press
