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Gee Atherton’s Biggest Crash Yet — and His Road to Recovery

Gee Atherton Post Injury
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“It was a heavy one — even by my standards.” – Gee Atherton, July 2021

On June 18, MTB legend Gee Atherton suffered the worst crash of his career. It occurred in the Welsh town of Dinas Mawddwy while filming the third installment to his The Ridge Line and The Slate Line series.

On July 16, just 3 weeks after the potentially life-changing accident, the Red Bull athlete took to YouTube with a serious but uplifting progress note.

Aerial footage of the event (which begins at the 1:01 mark in the clip above) shows Atherton as he “tumbled, ragdolled” down 100 feet of the steep, slate-laden hillside. In all,  the athlete sustained several spectacular injuries: a shattered femur, fractured radius and ulnar (forearm), fractures to multiple ribs, a broken nose and eye socket, a collapsed lung, and — not surprisingly — one hell of a concussion.

Gee Atherton, Determination Incarnate

Atherton delivers his recount of the incident in a somber but positive tone. Halfway through the video he notes, “the injuries — though they’re massive, and there is a big list of them — are already healing well…I’ve been walking without the crutches already, we’ve started physio in the gym. The leg can take some weight; the arm has got some strength in it. Everything, every day, is getting a little bit better.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Gee Atherton (@gee_atherton)

Atherton’s parting statements are confident and determined: “you have to be willing to take the consequences when it goes wrong…take the recovery time. It’s difficult, but you know that going in…That’s just how it works. I feel I’ve been lucky with these injuries — it could have been a lot worse. And I’ll be back.”

Learn more about Gee’s accomplishments here, and follow his recovery on his Instagram profile.

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dartmouth11
2 years ago

How dumb do you find yourself when occupying the surgery bed of someone in need. Don’t be back, Red Bull is full of crap, its bad for you, people have died from it, all of this is bad. Go home, be nice do something good.

Ted W Pierson
Ted W Pierson
2 years ago

But Bojo said yesterday was “Freedom Day”! Knock yourself out kid. Break a leg.

Bart
Bart
2 years ago

Was it worth it? Probably not. Wait until you have kids or have to take care of someone else, your life choices start becoming more risk adverse.

Tom
Tom
2 years ago

unfortunately, this kid is going to be feeling these injuries for the rest of his life. Yeah, you can bounce back after a bad crash, but it always leaves a mark – arthritis, creaky bones, CTE etc. I can’t bear to watch a crash like that on replay.

Judy
Judy
1 year ago
Reply to  Tom

He is a 35 year old man who thrives on doing extreme sports. Continue on Gee because soon you won’t be able too.

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