First Published: December 17, 2013 1:39 PM EST Credit: Getty Images
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- 
Caption Olympic skier Seth Wescott attends the 2010 Ski and Snowboard Ball at the Hammerstein Ballroom on November 4, 2010 in New York CityTwo-time Olympic snowboarder Seth Westcott is determined to make the third time another “gold” charm. Seth is set to win his third straight gold medal in Sochi. Yet, he’s also the got the added challenge of coming off a major knee surgery after a fall from a snowboarding accident.
“Right now, I’m really excited. It’s been a long summer of dealing with a comeback from an injury, but I am getting to place where my health is almost 100 percent,” Seth reveals to Healthy Hollywood.
Seth, who intends to make history on the slopes in Sochi, adds, “I started over in the spring re-learning to walk. So, you’re starting from the ground up and you start rebuilding yourself. It is a chance for a comeback situation and to rise up over adversity and get where you want to be. I know on the 18th of February I want to be challenging for an Olympic gold medal. The last week and a half of snowboarding I feel there have been some major breakthroughs and I’m getting back to feeling normal. I’m at an interesting point right now.”
Healthy Hollywood chatted with Seth about his comeback from injury and about his partnership with the Team Liberty Mutual program. The insurance company is sponsoring a group of 13 athletes who are united together by their unique stories of setback on their Olympic journeys. “I thought this was a fitting story to be telling; what is the process of an Olympic athlete. A lot of people only see us standing on the podium every 4 years but they have no idea of the ups and downs and trials and tribulations we go through in those years in between.”
Now, just 56 days out from Sochi, Seth is working hard to be calm and nurse himself physically back to health. “Right now I feel like I’m at a point where I need to patient – just a little longer. If I have any setbacks between now and then that will be a huge problem. So, I’m trying to use my wisdom as the oldest member of the U.S. Snowboard team to be patient and wait until I’m 100 percent ready to go on the challenge again. “
At 37, some critics think age will slow down his recovery, but that’s not a concern of this champ. In fact, he’s also got his on eye on the Olympics 2018, adding, “Action sports are new enough that a lot of us will be writing the timeline on how old people can be and the kind of benchmarks we set.”
Plus, it’s up to Seth, and all of us, to take care of our bodies so that we can enjoy a lifetime of activity.
“You have to be active every day. The way to be strong over a lifetime is that you spend time taking care of your body and you look at is as a work in progress. You always have to put the work in to make sure you’re cardiovascularly fit and your heart and lungs are healthy. You need to be doing strength training and flexibility training. Then, you need to find lifetime sports that you enjoy.”
Healthy Hollywood wishes Seth only the best on his road back to Olympic victory!
Copyright 2013 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
