Silver medalist Colby Stevenson of Team USA celebrates on Day 5 of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at Big Air Shougan in Beijing on Wednesday. Photo: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images
Olympic debutant Colby Stevenson won Team USA a silver medal in the inaugural men's freestyle skiing big air competition at the Beijing Winter Games on Wednesday.
The big picture: The 24-year-old's achievement is all the more remarkable, given he nearly died in a 2016 car crash in rural Idaho that severely injured his brain. He also had broken multiple bones and was placed in a medically induced coma for three days.
What he's saying: "Five years after my car accident, I'm still using that as a life lesson to just live and enjoy every moment," Stevenson told People Magazine.
- "Once you can appreciate the little things, then really impactful or big events in your life mean that much more," the Utah-based skier added.
- "Just coming back to skiing for me ... I felt like I was a little kid just learning how to ride a bike and it's just ecstatic. So I'm just remembering that feeling."
Go deeper... In photos: Lindsey Jacobellis gold leads Winter Olympics Day 5 highlights... The Winter Olympics medal tracker