Doctors shocked: Ivica, you're a miracle

Radio.net

18.01.2010 u 09:27

Just one month ago, Ivica Kostelić was laying in a hospital bed at the Bruderholz Clinic in Basel, Switzerland where he was psychologically preparing for a new demanding round of therapy. Few, including him with all his experience in healing injuries, could have expected that he would be celebrating a victory on the slopes in mid-January

Dr. Peharec once, knocking on wood for good measure, said that he had never seen tougher athletes than Ivano Balić and Mirza Džomba. 'They are made of indestructible material', the famous doctor said.

The Kostelić family s the skiing equivalent of the handball wizards. Not only according to Croatian standards, since such stories are rare around the world. Ivica celebrated a victory on his favorite slope in Wengen, the skiing world's Wimbledon.

'I was nervous because I've never lost a race I was leading... It's not easy holding a lead ... and I knew I was going for victory', Ivica told the Associated Press after his triumphant run.

The win was just icing on the cake of a tremendous weekend. He was sixth in the downhill, twentieth in the downhill, and then first. All this only one month after his operation, his eighth career knee surgery.

'I'm surprised that my knee is still holding up pretty well. The doctors who went inside said they never saw a knee look so good after so many traumas.'