Dutch snowboarder Bibian Mentel-Spee won gold at the Winter Paralympics on Monday in a stunning victory after having cancer surgery twice in recent months.
Mentel-Spee came first in the women's snowboard-cross, in the category for people with leg impairments. She beat her teammate Lisa Bunschoten in the final.
It was a remarkable triumph after the veteran snowboarder had two rounds of surgery following the discovery of a cancerous tumour in her neck, the first in December and the second in January.
‘It's such an amazing feeling and I'm so happy and I'm so stoked, especially after the last couple of months,’ said the 45-year-old following her victory at the Pyeongchang Games in South Korea.
Mentel-Spee was already an experienced snowboarder when she lost a lower leg to bone cancer in 2001.
She continued to take part in the sport and was instrumental in getting it included in the Winter Paralympics for the first time in 2014 in Sochi, where she won gold in snowboard-cross.
But as she geared up to defend her title at the Pyeongchang Paralympics, she was told in July that her cancer had returned.
She first underwent radiation therapy, before her doctors told her she would have to undergo surgery.
‘The tumour (was) in my neck. Basically my vertebrae (were) collapsing,’ she said.
The surgery was a success and three weeks later, she started training again to prepare for the Winter Paralympics.
