For snowboarder Jake Canter, an Olympic bronze medal is the prize after a near-death journey

LIVIGNO, Italy — Nobody could blame the doctors for telling 13-year-old Jake Canter he should never step on a snowboard again.

Nobody could blame 22-year-old Jake Canter for ignoring them.

Nine years after enduring a traumatic brain injury, the result of getting kicked in the head in a freak accident on a trampoline at an action-sports camp, that 22-year-old U.S. rider won the Olympic bronze medal in his sport's trick-filled trip down the hill — slopestyle.

That third-place finish Wednesday stamped an exclamation point on one of those only-at-the-Olympics kind of stories. It also exposed the flaw in all those dire diagnoses back then: The doctors were looking at Canter's brain when they should have checked his heart.

"I really just hope I made 13-year-old me lying in that hospital bed proud," Canter said. "This is for him, and everyone who supported me."

The accident fractured Canter's skull in four places. He ended up in a coma for four days. He lost hearing in his right ear. Six months later, after therapy, some of it on a snowboard, was beginning to help him regain his bearings, Canter felt an earache come on. That was the first symptom of meningitis.

Another coma followed, again for four days. In the end, he needed surgery in which doctors put bone cement in his skull and his right ear, gutting his equilibrium and forcing him to relearn how to walk, how to talk.

But how to snowboard?

"There were only so many people who believed I could go do the stuff I was doing prior to everything," Canter said. "I wanted to prove every doctor wrong that told me I couldn't do this. That's a big part of this."

Canter's bronze medal did not come on the prettiest day for snowboarding, or for slopestyle.

Twelve riders took three runs each down the course that has been lightly panned all week for a too-big rails section and a trio of jumps that are tightly bunched together, making it harder for the athletes to gather speed and throw their biggest tricks.

So when Canter, facing an all-or-nothing gamble for the podium on his third and final run, threw the day's only 1980-degree spin off the last jump, it made for compelling theater. When he landed it, things got better.

He thrust his arms to the heavens and snapped his goggles off. He screamed "Let's Go!" then went to snowboarding's version of the "Kiss and Cry" area.

Judges took a full three minutes evaluating that run to see if it belonged on the podium. The score came up; they agreed it did. Su Yiming of China won gold while Taiga Hasegawa of Japan took silver.

About an hour later, Canter told the story of the traumatic brain injury and ticked off some other injuries — compound fractures to his right arm and a broken left hand that he rode with at the Olympics.

Not all of them have involved bones and fractures.

He told of a snowboarding friend who died from suicide in 2021. Canter, who grew up in the mountains of Colorado, has that friend's birthday tattooed on his left wrist.

"I didn't have a car at the time, he'd drive 45 minutes out of his way, take me to the resort," Canter said. "We spent a lot of time traveling together when we were younger. So, this is a special win for him."

Canter conceded that so much trauma over such a short life has taken its emotional toll. Mental health, a topic that has gained traction in Olympic circles in recent years, is something he's fine talking about. Sometimes, to get away from it all, therapy involved simply getting on a board and riding.

"It's the freedom it gives you, because you're in control," Canter said. "I can express myself a lot through my snowboarding. I feel more myself when I'm on my snowboard, as well."

On a magical day in Italy, snowboarding gave him yet another gift — and maybe brought a few new fans along for the ride.

"I'm so lucky to be standing up here, and I'm showcasing my skills to the world," he said. "And this is the biggest stage to do it."