Olympians looking to make a comeback in PyeongChang

Mirai Nagasu’s Olympic journey has been a rollercoaster. She finished fourth in Vancouver as a 16 year-old and was on the cusp of qualifying in 2010 – she finished third at U.S. Nationals – before U.S. Figure Skating decided to send fourth-place finisher Ashley Wagner to Sochi instead of Nagasu. Nagasu accepted the decision and came back to secure her second Olympic berth by finishing second at the 2017 U.S. Nationals.

One of the surprise delegates of the American’s figure skating team, Bradie Tennell overcame a back injury to qualify for her first Olympics. In 2015 after winning the Junior title at the U.S. Championships, Tennell fractured her lumbar vertebra. She had another stress fracture in a different lumbar vertebrae in 2016, but came back in 2017 to take bronze in Skate America and later winning the 2018 U.S. National Title.

Nick Goepper earned the bronze medal as part of the American sweep in the men’s slopestyle at the 2014 Olympics. But shortly after the Olympics, Goepper was diagnosed with depression and anxiety and checked into a recovery center in 2015. Now, Goepper, just 23 years old, is back in the Olympics, chasing his second medal.

The four men will compete in South Korea without one crucial member of their team – Steven Holcomb who passed away in May 2017. Holcomb, who led the four-man bobsledding team, including Justin Olsen, to a gold medal in 2010 and a bronze in 2014, will be on the minds of his teammates in South Korea.

When you’ve had a career as long, and as storied, as Lindsey Vonn, you’ll have a lot of comeback stories to tell. From 2006 to 2016, Vonn has endured nine major injuries, including a knee injury that kept her out of the 2014 Olympics. At 33, Vonn will compete in her fourth, and likely final, Olympics.

The skeleton athlete was in third place at the 2014 Olympics before slipping during his final run and finishing in 15th. He retired from skeleton soon after, but ultimately returned in 2016 to qualify for his third Olympic games. Daly will be looking for his first Olympic medal in PyeongChang.

JR Celski almost never became an Olympian. In 2010, he crashed during the U.S. Olympic Trials and sliced his leg, requiring emergency surgery, 60 stitches and five months of rehab. He came back from that to win two bronze medals. Now eight year later, Celski has overcome hip surgery as well as a knee and back injury to compete in his third Olympics and earn an elusive gold medal.

In 2006, Lindsey Jacobellis could see the gold medal. The snowboarder was right at the finish line when she fell on the second-to-last jump and had to settle for the silver medal. Jacobellis failed to medal at the 2010 and 2014 games, but will have a chance to redeem herself in 2018.

No one’s Olympic comeback is covered more than Shaun White’s. White won two gold medals in 2006 and 2010 before shocking the world and placing fourth in the half pipe in 2014. He crashed during a training session and needed 62 stitches to his face, but still qualified for the 2018 games.

Adam Rippon is making headlines for his twitter feud with Vice President Pence over LGBTQ rights, but Rippon is also a world class figure skater with an inspiring story to tell. At 28, Rippon, who is openly gay, will be competing in his first Olympics after overcoming a broken foot in 2016 and a dislocated shoulder in 2017.