Photo: JerseyEveningPost.com
Kristina Vogel has always been about speed. As a 2-time Olympic gold medalist and 3-time European gold medalist, she knew that the harder she trained, the harder she pushed herself, the better her speed and her performance.
At the end of last June, Vogel was out on the velodrome when she crashed into a Duch cyclist who was practicing his standing starts at about 40mph. Now, in her first interview since the accident, speaking from her hospital in Berlin, where she’s recovering, she says she knew right away that she was paralyzed and that her life as she’d known it would be over.
Vogel doesn’t remember much of the accident. She knows she was out to practice with a friend but she doesn’t recall the actual moment when she collided with the other cyclist. She remembers waking up and seeing someone walk away with her shoes, which is when she knew she would never walk again.
“The big deal was learning that crying is OK. I never was a person who cried a lot. Especially not winning the Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016. I never cried. Never cried,” Vogel tells the BBC in the interview. “A lot of my friends and family had not seen me cry. But it's OK to cry, and to feel how bad it is. It is bad. I can't walk any more.”
Still, she’s not angry and she’s not afraid. Vogel understands she will probably never be into sports again, but at the same time, she feels like a lot of pressure and a great weight has been taken off her shoulders.
In 2009, she was placed into an induced coma after being hit by a minibus, to allow her body time to recover. This time, it’s different, she explains: she has no uncertainty about the future anymore.
“I never was that angry person before. I was always happy, I always loved my life,” she says. “I still love my life. So nothing changed, really. Just how I move. I'm going to do a lot of things in my wheelchair. It's different, but it's still my life, so why not be happy?”
Vogel doesn’t remember much of the accident. She knows she was out to practice with a friend but she doesn’t recall the actual moment when she collided with the other cyclist. She remembers waking up and seeing someone walk away with her shoes, which is when she knew she would never walk again.
“The big deal was learning that crying is OK. I never was a person who cried a lot. Especially not winning the Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016. I never cried. Never cried,” Vogel tells the BBC in the interview. “A lot of my friends and family had not seen me cry. But it's OK to cry, and to feel how bad it is. It is bad. I can't walk any more.”
Still, she’s not angry and she’s not afraid. Vogel understands she will probably never be into sports again, but at the same time, she feels like a lot of pressure and a great weight has been taken off her shoulders.
In 2009, she was placed into an induced coma after being hit by a minibus, to allow her body time to recover. This time, it’s different, she explains: she has no uncertainty about the future anymore.
“I never was that angry person before. I was always happy, I always loved my life,” she says. “I still love my life. So nothing changed, really. Just how I move. I'm going to do a lot of things in my wheelchair. It's different, but it's still my life, so why not be happy?”
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