Boardercross is the most dangerous winter Olympic sport

During Vancouver the medical staff kept a record of all the injuries suffered by the competitors. Turns out, to no one's surprise, that snowboard cross is by far the most dangerous winter Olympic sport. Over a third of the riders were injured at some point and they were twice as likely to get injured compared to competitors any other event...


Here's how those numbers compare to the summer Olympics.

All the injuries, from bruises to death, are lumped in together, so the next most dangerous sport, footballing with it's horrific injuries that are instantly cured by the liberal use of a magic sponge, is possibly a little over-reported.

These stats are from a short article on the New Scientist website that includes this choice quote from someone that's never seen a boardercross event.
Those familiar with snowboarding won't be surprised that snowboard cross tops the charts. "A lot of it is just the nature of the trick, the acrobatics of it," says David Geier, former director of sports medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina. "The twist and rotations in the air, and having to land at really high speeds."

Snowboarding was responsible for the first and ninth most dangerous winter Olympic sports, and with the addition of slopestyle this year we've probably just added another one.

Now let's sit back and see what carnage happens in the men's event today.