Sarah Burke
Olympic gold medalist, Sarah Burke, died Thursday after sustaining a tragic head injury nine days ago. The 29-year-old Canadian ski champion was a four-time super pipe Winter X Games winner and was seen as a front runner for the 2012 Winter Olympics.Burke suffered severe injuries last Tuesday after crashing in a practice run on the half pipe ramp at the Park City Mountain Resort in Utah. Surgeons said Burke had torn her vertebral artery, causing massive bleeding. She was put into a medical induced coma following the accident after suffering cardiac arrest and loss of oxygen to her brain.The pro-skiier's accident has sparked a debate about the dangers of freestyle skiing and other winter sports. Burke is not the first to have suffered life-threatening injuries from a winter sport. Among others, snowboarder Kevin Pearce also sustained head injuries while training for the 2010 Olympics. Reuters

The family of critically injured skier Sarah Burke canceled a press conference Monday morning so doctors could perform more neurological tests on the Canadian Olympic hopeful.

Burke, 29, has been in a coma since Jan 10 after hitting her head while performing a trick on a half-pipe course training ramp in Park City, Utah.

Late last night, Rory Bushfield, Sarah's husband, and members of her family me with physicians to discuss the results of Sarah's most recent neurological tests and assessments, said Burke's publicist, Nicole Wool, in a statement, according to the Deseret News. Based on the information they received, we regret to inform you that they have decided to cancel [Monday]'s press conference in order for further tests to be conducted this morning and in the coming days.

The Associated Press reported that journalists had already gathered in the Salt Lake City hospital that morning. But at the last minute, Burke's agent, Michael Spencer, and Wool emerged teary-eyed and claimed there was nothing new to say.

Surgeons told the paper they successfully repaired a torn vertebral artery that caused intracranial hemorrhaging last week, but said they were still monitoring her brain activity. According to the Vancouver Sun, she had suffered cardiac arrest right after the crash.

Doctors said they were still unsure of the young athlete's prognosis.

This injuries of this type, we need to observe the course of her brain function before making definitive pronouncements about Sarah's prognosis for recovery, Dr. William Couldwell, the neurosurgeon who performed the operation, told The Associated Press in a statement last week.

Burke, a member of the Canadian Ski Team and a four-time Winter X Games champion, was training to defend her superpipe title at the upcoming Winter X Games in Colorado. She is the first woman in her sport to land a 1080 - three full revolutions - in competition. It is not known what trick she was working on during her injury.

The halfpipe on which Burke was injured is the same one where snowboarder Kevin Pearce suffered a traumatic brain injury on Dec. 31, 2009. More than two years after his accident he is on a snowboard once again, but has said he will no longer compete.