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Olympic relief, Cooper and Owens Cleared for Competition

 

Feb 02, 2010 / 05:55:58 PM


Ramone in action. Image - courtesy Ramone Cooper

Injured Olympic hopefuls Ramone Cooper and Jenny Owens have been declared medically fit for Olympic competition by the Australian Medical Director.

Both athletes suffered injuries in the middle of January that put their Olympic selections into doubt, medical assessment became a condition of their selections to the Australian Olympic Team for Vancouver.

Mogul skier Cooper, who damaged his knee in a training accident in Deer Valley, USA a fortnight ago, undertook a rigorous rehabilitation regime at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra in order to give him the best chance of fulfilling his Olympic dream. Yesterday the Medical Director Dr Peter Burn cleared his Olympic selection.

"I am very pleasantly surprised with the results - far better than I had anticipated; Ramone certainly understated his progress, which is commendable," Dr Braun said.

Dr Braun also approved Owens' Olympic team selection. Owens underwent minor knee surgery in New Hampshire, USA to repair a torn meniscus just over a week ago and has recovered well.

Owens is Australia's top ranked ski cross athlete. The former alpine skier, who represented Australia in alpine skiing at the 2002 Olymic Games, has won a World Cup silver medal. She had been a medal hope for Vancouver but by her own admission will not be in peak condition at the Olympics due to her surgery.

Cooper, who earned a personal best ninth place in a World Cup earlier in the 2009/10 season, will join 2006 Olympic gold medallist Dale Begg-Smith as Australia's representatives in mens moguls, which will be contested 14 February at the Cypress Mountain venue.

Owens will be joined by Katya Crema in the womens ski cross, which takes place 23 February, also at Cypress Mountain.

Twenty Ten will be covering the moguls and the ski cross live on our live coverage blogs, where you can read to the minute commentary by former USA freestyle coach Don St Pierre.

Read the ski cross and moguls athletes profiles

The Australian Olympic Team 2010

tags: olympic, feature, features, ramone, cooper, jenny, owens, dale, begg, smith, katya, crema, ski, cross, moguls, freestyle, skiing, cypress, mountain, australian, team, selection, injury