Posted on 01/22/2002 5:52:02 PM PST by Utah Girl
'The Other Side of the Mountain' told story of Olympic dreams cut short
Jill Kinmont Boothe carried the Olympic Flame today, inspiring others to rise to life's challenges as gracefully as she did when her successful skiing career was cut short by a tragic accident.
SETTING A BRISK PACE
Boothe, the junior and women's national slalom champion in 1954, put off college at the age of 18 in hopes of making the 1956 Olympic Team. Sports Illustrated featured her on the cover the same day she skied a practice run for the Alta Snow Cup in January 1955, when an accident rendering her a quadriplegic abruptly halted the life she had planned.
"I was going too fast and went out of control," Boothe said. "I fell back, flying mid-air through a corridor of trees. It took all the strength I had to keep from hitting them."
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED JINX
Boothe's 1955 Sports Illustrated picture was part of the magazine's recent cover story on athletes over the decades who've suffered misfortunes after being featured on the magazine's cover - an astounding 37.2 percent.
An article in Life Magazine prompted a book, then a 1975 movie on her life, both entitled "The Other Side of the Mountain." Doctors initially thought there was hope that she could return to the slopes shortly after her accident, but they broke the news to her with her best friend Audra Jo Nicholson, in a wheelchair because of Polio, sitting at her bedside.
WORKING HER WAY BACK
"Thinking of my future prospects brought me down," Boothe recalled.
Her dear friend, Dick Buick, a downhill skier on the 1952 Olympic Team, told her that she had an opportunity that very few were given - not many people were presented with the chance to take on challenges of this magnitude.
"This made sense to me," she said. "Dick was very wise."
Boothe rebuilt her life with the help of supportive family and friends. A year of physical therapy in Santa Monica, Calif., was funded through the sale of her parents' 60-acre guest ranch in Bishop because insurance didn't cover the costs. Boothe went on to earn a teaching degree at the University of Washington after UCLA denied her a teaching credential because of her disability.
A second movie, "The Other Side of the Mountain Part Two" continued to tell of her life as a teacher with native American children and how she met her husband, John Boothe, who was by her side at the torch relay today.
INSPIRATION TO OTHERS
Salt Lake City Organizing Committee President Mitt Romney asked Boothe to take part in the relay, saying that she "exemplified persistence" and "represented the Olympic spirit that one could accomplish whatever one wanted to do." Many of Boothe's fellow torchbearers, introducing themselves on the shuttle bus this morning, remembered the movie and her story. It helped fuel her ride with the torch. "I didn't think holding the torch would mean so much," said Boothe, "but it did."
Jill Kinmont Boothe and fellow torchbearers attend a briefing prior to carrying the Olympic Torch in Carson City, Nevada. Boothe was an Olympic hopeful until a skiing accident in 1955 rendered her a quadriplegic.
More of Boothe's fellow torchbearers, including mohawked extreme skier Glen Plake, turn toward the back of the bus to chat.
| To find all articles indexed using "Olympics List" | ||||
| click here >>> | SL 2002 Olympics | <<< click here | ||
| (To view all FR Bump Lists, click here) | ||||
Boothe's is an uplifting story of triumph over adversity. thanks for posting it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.