Alexa Loo was your average 15 year old when she started snowboarding. She kept snowboarding and then she tried qualifying for the 2002 winter Olympics but she missed it by 11-hundredths of a second. 4 years later in Italy, she became the first Canadian woman to compete in the parallel giant slalom and came in 20th. Sadly, Loo tore her knee ligament in early 2007 and was forced to re-evaluate the way she raced. She did physical therapy and returned that September with renewed focus. Because of the lost time while she was out on injured leave, she lost her financing in 2007. She needed to finish in the top 16 in the world to qualify for her $18,000 that was stripped from her past financing.
Two Chinese brothers had heard her story and began putting her profile on the re-usable bags that were sold in their grocery store. This really helped Alexa in getting her money back and she won a World Cup Silver Medal in Austria. For 10 years, Loo walked her Olympic journey alone. Now because of her bummed knee, the Chinese brothers, and those of her community, she will now snowboard for the city that kept her journey going.
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