Unbroken: The Snowboard Life of Mark McMorris Page #5

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if you're Mark McMorris.

(speaking in a foreign language)

Here, yeah, we're athletes.

Snowboarding.

Yeah.

(whistles)

After going through

that long rehab process,

entering back into

the competition side

of snowboarding was

definitely a little bit

stressful because you

don't really know if

you're gonna still be able to

compete on the level you were.

Yeah.

All right, lets go

catch some feather.

I was excited and nervous

all at the same time

and felt like my body

was ready to be there.

It was not so much about

the riding but more about

dealing with the

pressures of competing.

Now at the top of the

ramp, Mark McMorris

with quite possibly the

most incredible come back

story of the century.

A broken femur, rehab,

return to competition, victory

and then while filming

in the back country

in Canada, a horrific crash

that nearly ended his life

and now about to drop in again.

What must be going through

this young lads mind?

(cheering)

(applauding)

[Announcer] He stomps it.

[Male] That was sick!

That was so scary.

Doing the frontside triple

cork on the first run

gave me a lot of confidence.

It's one of the trickiest

and freakiest triple corks

but definitely still nervous.

I obviously just wanted to get

it done on that second run.

[Announcer] And now

dropping in for his second run

run Mark McMorris.

(applauding)

I did what I came there to do.

I did the two tricks I

wanted to do on the first

two tries, is like

the ultimate feeling.

[Announcer] And

now for his third

and final run

anyone who

doesn't appreciate

how much of

a winner this

guy is just for

even competing here

[Announcer] Its like

he never stopped

are you kidding me.

Absolutely perfect

When I was standing

on the podium, it was

just sort of that feeling

of I had proved to myself

I was back and belonged

there but also put

it in everybody else's

heads like "Don't forget

"about me, I'm not dead

anymore, I'm back".

This is the magic

city of snowboarding.

I'd like to say it's

something I don't

think about all the time,

but the accident definitely

took a pretty big

toll on me mentally.

The trauma is gonna be

around for my whole life.

It was a snowboard accident

and I snowboard everyday.

How are you supposed to

really forget about it?

As time goes on, it lessens

a lot, so I feel better

and better each event and

better each time I strap

on my snowboard and definitely

less scared every time

I strap on my snowboard

and get my confidence back.

Mark is one of the

strongest if not the strongest

kid I know, mentally and

physically, I've never seen

anybody recover like that.

I don't know how he does that.

Like, how is he back now?

And riding well, like he's

back, he's fully back.

It's mind blowing.

I don't understand

how he does that.

Anytime you go through an

injury that's threatening

in any way, whether its

threatening to your snowboard

career, threatening to your

life in general, you get

really humbled by life.

You can see that in Mark.

He was a humble kid before this.

There was no doubt about

that and I think even more so

now he's just happy to be

for one, a professional

snowboarder and have

a career that he has.

But I think he's just got

an appreciation for living

life and thankful to be able

to live it to the fullest.

[Announcer] Make some

noise for Mark McMorris.

(cheering and screaming)

When he was lying

there, he was like

"My legs are fine,

my legs are fine".

I don't even know how

you speak with your

jaw hanging off your mouth.

The first thing he could

write down after being

in the hospital intensive

care, "I want to to go to

"the Olympics, can I

go to the Olympics?".

I mean, it's heavy.

Mark really wants it.

It will be a massive

milestone, the extent

of something that

was really truly

a life-threatening injury

to rise back to the pinnacle

of sporting performance.

Regardless of how he does,

to be back, to drop in,

and do what he does

will be special.

My whole life I've

loved snowboarding.

There's been times where

it's been harder to enjoy

the moment but this past

year its been so much

easier to love snowboarding

than ever because

I know it was so close to

being taken away from me

and snowboarding is

gonna always be there

for me and I just want to

love it like it's loved me.

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