Bellevue's Ludlow happy just to finish Super-G

SAN SICARIO FRAITEVE, Italy — Inspiration for the aging flew faster than anyone down a mountain, as 32-year-old Michaela Dorfmeister of Austria collected her second gold medal of the Turin Games shortly before her upcoming retirement.

History in motion also came alive Monday as Croatia's Janica Kostelic took the silver medal in the women's Super-G, adding to her legend as the greatest women's alpine skier with her record sixth medal overall.

And then there is the story of Bellevue native Libby Ludlow. Hers does not include a medal, and it will not draw tears or praise on NBC — she actually finished 28th — but it's sure to warm hearts all the same.

Because as recently as six months ago, Ludlow seriously wondered if she would get on skis again.

"I had a lot of doubts," she said.

Ludlow had already walked down rehab road before. She ruptured the ACL in her right knee in 1998. Her left knee required arthroscopic surgery a few years later. Both stints made her "a seasoned rehab veteran," Ludlow quipped.

But the surgery last March, now that was different. Doctors told Ludlow they needed to clean out her right knee, told her cartilage was floating around in there and actually knocked off a chunk of her femur, told her she had the beginnings of a degenerative knee at 23 years old.

Ludlow spent all spring in pain, living with frustration, her career suspended in disbelief and doubt. She would try to train, only to cut days short to wrap her aching knee in ice. She didn't "commit" to the idea of training for the Olympics until May or June.

The knee still requires another surgery, which requires about a year of rehab, which means Ludlow ignored all that in order to train for these Olympics. Which means she is savoring every minute she has been here.

"I'm just elated," Ludlow said. "To think, I wasn't sure I'd even be able to ski again, let alone competitively in the Olympics. If people understood how far I've come in the last eight, nine months, they'd really appreciate me just being here. I know I appreciate it."

Ludlow grew up pole-vaulting in Bellevue and skiing on Crystal Mountain, where she befriended a young skier named Scott Macartney. Both made the U.S. team in 1998. Both suffered knee injuries. Both returned from knee injuries to make this their breakout season.

So Ludlow watched with interest as Macartney skied so well earlier in the week. She said they have something of a friendly rivalry.

"We're finally here," she said. "I guess we're slow bloomers or something, I don't know. But we both had our share of injuries, and that slowed us both down."

For Ben Ludlow, rehab proved difficult to watch. Libby is his younger sister, after all, the same girl who stepped on a long-board skateboard a couple of years ago after an eight-month absence and cruised down the road at 40 mph — until she crashed.

He told her to slow down, to ease into things.

"But there's never been an ease in her," Ben said, a foam finger on his hand and an American flag jutting out of his backpack in the stands. "She doesn't like to go slow."

Only injuries could force it — "not just once, not just twice, but three times," Ben said. Only an appearance in this Olympics, a finish in this race, could make the so-often-broken Ludlow feel whole again.

She wasn't the only feel-good story Monday. Kostelic again fielded and brushed off questions about her place in history, posing with Dorfmeister, who's reviving the cliché "going out on top," for a picture on the podium.

"It's a big dream for me to go home with two gold medals," Dorfmeister said. "It's not very easy as it looks like."

Beyond that, American Lindsey Kildow finished seventh — the best finish of three Americans in the top 14 — completing her second race since an ugly crash during a downhill training run. Ludlow could have been Kildow's replacement in the downhill, but she knew her friend would compete.

"It's part of the sport, I guess, getting back on the horse," Ludlow said.

She should know as well as anybody, having come back when even she wondered if the odds outweighed her chances. That's how good it felt just to be standing there Monday, as the sun poked through the clouds, and the Alps hung in the background.

Good enough to make a run at the next Olympics, which just so happen to be in Vancouver, B.C., near home.

"I was really disappointed to not get to compete in Salt Lake, so Vancouver getting the 2010 bid was such a blessing," she said. "Being here has just really fueled my hunger toward 2010. I'd kind of questioned if I'd be able to stick around that long, but now I really hope I can."

Greg Bishop: 206-464-3191 or gbishop@seattletimes.com