Australia’s Olympic Winter Team received a major boost today with two injured athletes Ramone Cooper and Jenny Owens cleared to compete at the Games in Vancouver.

Moguls skier Ramone Cooper suffered a serious knee injury just a fortnight ago and at the time was given no chance of competing.

Jenny Owens also hurt her knee in a Ski Cross event and appeared likely to miss the Games.

Twenty-one-year-old Cooper injured two ligaments and tore his knee cartilage and retuned to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) for intensive treatment. His recovery stunned staff at the AIS.

The Australian Medical Director, Doctor Peter Braun, wrote to the AOC Team Executive today recommending Cooper be included in the Team “based on his AIS clinical and testing results together with his rapid rate of daily progress”.

“I am very pleasantly surprised with the results – far better than I had anticipated; Ramone certainly understated his progress, which is commendable,” Doctor Braun said.  

Cooper is Australia’s number two moguls skier behind the defending Olympic champion Dale Begg-Smith.

Doctor Braun also recommended Jenny Owens be allowed to compete at her second Olympics. Owens recently aggravated an old injury when her knee locked during an event and she required an urgent arthroscopy.

“She is recovering rapidly and her early progress is encouraging,” Dr Braun said.

Thirty-one-year-old Owens competed in alpine skiing at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and has worked extremely hard to qualify for the new sport of ski cross on the Olympic program in Vancouver.

She is our top rated competitor in the event, winning a silver medal in a World Cup event at Lake Placid last January.

Thirty-seven athletes have now been selected as members of the Australian Olympic Winter Team. The Games begin in Vancouver on February 12.