Majdic awards herself gold with diamonds for courage (News Feature)

By John Bagratuni Feb 18, 2010, 3:02 GMT

Whistler, Canada - Petra Majdic's Olympic adventure may be over, but she at least doesn't leave empty-handed after fighting through the pain barrier for a cross-country sprint bronze.

Majdic, 30, fell into a small gorge during the warm-up but defied terrible pain in her ribs to get from qualifying through the quarter- and semi-finals onto the podium.

'This is not a bronze medal, this is a gold medal with little diamonds on it. I already won a medal for going to the start. The wish was so big because I have been fighting for this for 22 years,' she said.

Majdic, who had to be helped out of the finish area by team officials after each race, named personal and national pride as the driving force behind her refusal to give up.

'I thought it was over. I couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't walk. But my desire was so strong. The second part of me said I will go to the start,' she said.

'You know what it is like when you came from a small country. And you never know whether you will get such a chance again.'

Majdic got the first Olympic cross-country medal for Slovenia, the nation's fifth overall (all bronze) and the first individual medal since 1994.

Majdic's psychologist Matej Tusak encouraged her to compete as a day of pain was nothing compared to decades of preparation.

'It is just a lot of pain and I said to her 'You have 25 years of training, you can do this, you have to do this for yourself, you will just have to hear your heartbeat and feel your arms and legs, then you can do it,'' said Tusak.

Majdic was the Olympic top favourite as leader of the sprint World Cup, and with 16 of her 20 World Cup race wins coming in this discipline.

When it was all over she lamented bad luck at her past two Olympics where she failed to make the podium, with her only major international success a sprint silver at the 2007 worlds.

It will never be known whether she would have been able to challenge Norwegian winner Marit Bjoergen and Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk if in full health.

Majdic took 'I don't know how many pills' and was wary of the moment that their effect will end. As a result, it remains open whether Majdic will be able to continue at the Games.

'I think it is impossible for me in two days (the pursuit). The 30km (next week Saturday) is the only chance. It is so painful,' she said before awkwardly moving off the news conference podium.