“It’s not an easy road and there will be days you will not want to get out of bed and face your challenges… but through your struggles, your mess will become your message.”

This quote is from our incredibly vulnerable and raw podcast guest today, Kelly Gunther, an Olympian skater known as the Comeback Kid for all the times she has had to persevere and come back from a challenge.

Kelly’s comebacks included everything from a learning disability, an absent alcoholic father, and several challenges she faced in her skating career.  

In the 2010 Olympic trials, Kelly appeared to make the United States speed skating team but was bumped after another skater was granted a re-skate.  Then there was that one time she nearly lost her entire foot on the ice.  

In March 2010, Kelly fell during a race and suffered a double-compound fracture that nearly severed her foot from her leg. 

After intensive rehab, she was miraculously able to return to skating and persevered to set two personal best times in November 2011. She made the 2011–2012 World Cup team and placed third in the 1000 meters at the 2011–2012 national championships.  By 2014, against all odds, she achieved her dream as a long-track speed skater for the U.S. Olympic Team. 

At the 2014 U.S. Olympic trials, she skated her personal best time of 1:16.43 in the 1000 meters to place fourth and make the Olympic team.

But Kelly’s story goes way beyond being an incredible Olympian. Her story is one of a human being who wakes up every morning with the mantra “life is not always easy but you can come back from anything” – and Kelly does it with honesty, strength, and a “glass half full” attitude.  

This is probably one of the most emotionally vulnerable stories I have experienced on the Cracking Open podcast.  Kelly really opened her whole self up in this interview, and you will deeply feel this in her message of turning tragedy into triumph which is inspiring us and millions of hearts around the globe.

Learn more about Kelly Gunther here:

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