Mike Robertson (born February 26, 1985) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

retired

snowboarder Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympi ...

. He resides in Canmore,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. His home mountain was Lake Louise. Robertson won a silver medal in snowboard cross at the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

and was considered somewhat of an unknown and surprise medalist. He retired in 2012 after suffering post-concussion syndrome from three notable head injuries.

Career

Robertson first started snowboarding at the World Cup level in 2003. His first World Cup podium result came on January 11, 2009, when he won a bronze medal. A month later, he reached the World Cup podium again, this time with a silver medal. He participated in the

in Vancouver where he won the Silver Medal in the

snowboard cross Snowboard cross, also known as boardercross, is a snowboard competition in which four to six competitors race down a course. Snowboard cross courses are typically quite narrow and include cambered turns, various types of jumps, berms, rollers, ...

. Robertson was in contention for the gold and was leading at the final corner when he was passed by

Seth Wescott Seth Wescott (born June 28, 1976) is an American snowboarder. He is a two-time Olympic champion in the snowboard cross. Life and career Wescott was born in Durham, North Carolina, and lives in Whistler, British Columbia. Growing up, Wescot ...

. With winning the silver he said that "It was kind of bittersweet. Obviously I wanted to win for sure, but I'm so happy to be second. It's amazing." Through his career he suffered several concussions with one in 2008 and 2009. While attending a training camp in September 2010 Robertson suffered another concussion in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, this effectively ended his career and he announced his retirement from competition some time later. With the disappointing end to his career he stated that "I would have loved to represent Canada at another Olympics. I didn’t want an injury to end my career, but after two years of struggling with concussion symptoms and trying to recover again and again, I had to make the best decision for my long-term health." A specialist had determined that he had suffered clear cognitive damage, which cemented the retirement for Robertson.

References

External links

CTV Olympic profileCanada Snowboard profile
1985 births Living people Canadian male snowboarders Sportspeople from Edmonton Snowboarders at the 2010 Winter Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Canada Olympic snowboarders of Canada Olympic medalists in snowboarding Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics {{Canada-snowboarding-bio-stub