Athletes Who Proved The Doubters Wrong

The worst-case scenario in an active young athlete’s life is suffering a severe injury. Sports have changed and improved many lives, but some athletes paid a bigger price. We present a few cases from which an average person would hardly have come out victorious, but the following star athletes were not just able to return to competitive sports but to finish at the top or close to it. Check out our inspiring article about athletes who proved the doubters wrong!

Athletes Who Proved the Doubters Wrong - Kieran Behan

Imagine the doctors telling you that you will never walk again. It’s terrible but even more so when you are a child. Kieran Behan was ten years old when he had a tumor removed from his thigh. During the operation, so severe complications occurred that Behan suffered nerve damage and had to use a wheelchair. However, the young boy did not give up on his dreams. He loved gymnastics and decided to become an Olympic champion. Just like that! After 15 months, he returned to the gym, but another blow came. Behan fell from a height and suffered a head injury. He was forced into a wheelchair again. This time, it took him three years to come back, but when everyone had given up on him, Behan started training again. His career was still full of several injuries, but in 2012 he made it to the London and the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. He was the first Irish gymnast to qualify for the Olympics!

Phelps, the Flying Fish

Michael Phelps is among the athletes who proved the doubters wrong big time. Phelps is the most successful Olympian of all time, winning 23 gold medals. As a child, Phelps had ADHD, an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Many people think that people with ADHA are a mess, restless, and unable to concentrate well enough. Yet they have an incredible ability to pay attention to what they are passionate about.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE5vRwKVOMg For Phelps, it was swimming. The American athlete has proven he can defeat his disciplined competitors and is an example to those suffering from a mental disorder. Imagining that if he did not get support from his family, he wouldn’t be where he is today is crazy. Sadly, many kids with potential are neglected by their families and even verbally abused, making them believe the naysayers. Thankfully, Phelps didn’t fall into this category!

Athletes who Proved the Doubters Wrong

It may be hard to believe that one of the best basketball players in the world has ever been advised against the sport, but it’s true. Michael Jordan’s high school coach told him not to play basketball because he did not think him physically or mentally fit to play. Jordan once said that he lost at least 300 games and made 9,000 baskets, but he learned a lot from the failures. That was what it took to be successful.

Bethany Hamilton is a True Inspiration!

Bethany grew up in Hawaii, so it's no surprise that she was already surfing at seven. She was 13 years old when she had an unbelievably terrible accident in 2003. She was resting peacefully on her surfboard with her left arm dangling in the water when a tiger shark attacked and bit her arm off. After the accident, the teenage girl decided on two things. One was that she would never pity herself because of the accident, and the other was that she would return. Bethany was surfing again after 26 days.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8-FrmSqUCM Her story gives strength not only to athletes with amputated limbs but to everyone facing tough times. Hamilton has proven she can overcome her fears and live life to the fullest despite her physical disability. She continued to compete, and she is a wife and mom now. Check out the movie, the Soulsurfer, about her career at online sportsbook sites in Ireland! Also, you can read our article about surfers who faced death but survived!

Athletes Who Proved the Doubters Wrong

Niki Lauda nearly burned to death at the Nürburgring in 1976 but was rescued from the wreckage by fellow racers and raced again six weeks later. The then one-time world champion crashed into the barrier, his Ferrari caught fire, and if not for the quick reaction of the competitors, he would have burned inside. He was pulled out of the wreckage by fellow competitors, who had stopped when the car that bounced back onto the track burst into flames. For 23 kilometers, a forest surrounded the old Nürburgring track, and the number of turns was close to two hundred, so anyone who got into trouble had it bad. Help was at a greater distance, and, of course, let's not forget, communication options were limited back then. The flames and the poisonous gases that Lauda inhaled put him in a life-threatening condition. They took him to a clinic, where they fought for his life for days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F5BaQ6a6Jw A few days after the accident, they called a priest to give him the last rites, but a day later, he was breathing on his own and got out of bed. Five days later, he was walking and talking about racing again. On the 40th day after his accident, he proved the doubters wrong and sat in an F1 car again in the Italian Grand Prix. He missed only three races, including the restarted German Grand Prix. Lauda later returned to the top, won two more world championship titles, and died in 2019.

Cycling is Not for the Weak

Everyone knows that road cycling is not a sport for cowards. Cyclists can hit a speed of over 80 km/h and only wear a helmet as protective gear. Unfortunately, minor falls are commonplace, but there are also very severe, even fatal accidents. Fabio Jakobsen had an almost fatal accident two years ago when he fell during the Tour de Poland.  Jakobsen fell between the cordons at a pace well over 70 km/h after Dylan Groenewegen passed him. Jakobsen's body and bicycle tore up advertising signs and cordons, and the helmet fell off his head. According to 888sport Sportsbook, they had to make a quick decision because Jakobsen's mouth was full of blood, and they didn’t know whether he had a spinal injury. Finally, they moved his head so he wouldn't choke on the blood.

Athletes who Proved the Doubters Wrong

Jakobsen was taken to the hospital by helicopter, where he underwent five hours of life-saving surgery, and they also put him on a mechanical ventilator. Even his loved ones hardly recognized him because he had no intact bones left on his head and hardly any teeth. He had cracks in his skull, a severe concussion, a broken nose, and a broken palate. They sewed it together with eighty stitches. He lost ten teeth because his upper and lower jaw was damaged badly.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ponQgIXENzw He had cuts on his face, a ruptured eardrum, a broken thumb, an injured shoulder, and a lung. In addition, he also damaged the nerves controlling the vocal cords. When he left the hospital in Poland, he could not speak yet. However, his face healed nicely, and he even joked that his nose looked like he had a boxing match with Mike Tyson. Unfortunately, some athletes were not so lucky. Check out extreme sports deaths! Jakobsen spent the first two months at home lying in a dark room. He was not allowed to watch TV or even his phone. He raced again in 2021, not even a year later, and three months later, he had his first victory after the fall. As online sportsbook sites in Ireland state, Jakobsen won three stages at the Vuelta in 2021, joined the Quick-Step Tour in the summer of 2022, and won another stage there too. Nobody believed he would ever do professional sports again, let alone make it to the top. That is why he made it to our list of athletes who proved the doubters wrong!

Brutal Soccer Injuries 

Anyone who saw the Denmark-Finland match of the European Championship in Copenhagen in 2021 will surely never forget the dramatic scenes when doctors had to perform CPR on the danish team's best player, Christian Eriksen, on the field. Everyone focused on Eriksen, who was fighting for his life on the grass, and his girlfriend, who stood in tears by the side of the field. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4zrqCYoUUI

Thanks to the quick intervention of his teammates and the medical staff, they were able to save the athlete's life. They revived the Danish soccer player with a defibrillator. After the life-saving interference, he was taken to the hospital, where he spent six days, received a pacemaker, and then returned home. In retrospect, the story could not have turned out any better because Christian Eriksen did not only survive the incident, but he got the chance of a lifetime. 

He was a soccer player in the Internazionale, but the Milan club terminated his contract because no soccer player with a pacemaker can play in Italy. In the summer of 2022, one of the biggest clubs in the world, Manchester United, signed Eriksen. Barely a year after returning from the brink of death, Eriksen is preparing for the biggest challenge of his career. Stay tuned and follow it at 888sport Sportsbook!

Athletes Who Proved the Doubters Wrong

Let's continue the soccer series with another player. Former legendary Chelsea goalkeeper, Petr Cech, collided with Steven Hunt in the first minute of a game against Reading in 2006. Hunt's knee hit Cech's skull, fracturing it, and the Czech goalkeeper needed emergency surgery to save his life. At that time, many people were worried about the goalkeeper's life and career and expected a roughly one-year absence at least.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QUFht3ZsKM

He couldn’t remember anything more than the handshake before the game, then nothing. Petr Cech only played wearing a head guard after his injury but did everything for a successful comeback. He trained again three months later and returned to the field soon after. It's true, we haven't seen him on the pitch without a head guard after that, but he won everything he could at the club level making him one of the athletes who proved the doubters wrong!

Soccer is a Dangerous Sport!

The former Spanish Arsenal player, Santi Cazorla, now has quite a bumpy story behind him. Thankfully, Cazorla's life was not in direct danger, but it was a possibility they could not save his leg. Cazorla suffered an Achilles injury in 2016, which required eight surgeries in less than a year. His wound became infected, and his leg and career were in danger. There was a period when he couldn't even be sure that he would be able to play football with his children.

After several unsuccessful surgeries, his ligaments healed so bad that one of them in his right leg became eight centimeters shorter than the one in his left. Cazorla's infected wound also required a skin graft from his arm, which is why he has a small piece of a tattoo on his ankle. Cazorla finally returned to the field, was invited to the national team in 2019, and plays soccer in the Middle East now.

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