Sam Retrosi (born December 12, 1985) is an American

luge A luge () is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds Supine position, supine (face-up) and feet-first. A luger begins seated, propelling themselves initially from handles on either side of the start ramp, then steers by using the Ca ...

r who competed as at the international level from 2000 to 2007. She competed in the women's singles event at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. During her second run at Turin, Retrosi crashed on the

Cesana Pariol Cesana Pariol was the venue for bobsleigh, luge and skeleton during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. The track, built for the games, is located in Cesana Torinese. The venue holds approximately 7,130 spectators, of whom 3,624 are se ...

track when she approached one of the curves at the bottom of the track. Suffering from a

concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, difficulty with thinking and concentration, sleep disturbances, a brief ...

and cuts to her left knee and chin, Retrosi was taken by

ambulance An ambulance is a medically-equipped vehicle used to transport patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to ...

to a nearby

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

, then flown to another hospital in Turin for further evaluation. The

Saranac Lake, New York Saranac Lake is a village in the state of New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,887, making it the largest community by population in the Adirondack Park.U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Report, Saranac Lake village, New ...

native announced her retirement from luge in June 2007. Samantha is a current doctoral student in sociology at

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

. Her PhD research was conducted in the Fall of 2017 in the Peruvian Amazon and is focused upon the therapeutic benefits of ayahuasca as applied to Western participants within the Shipibo healing tradition. Her previous work focused on the political economy of global sport, during which she wrote a piece for ''The Nation'' criticising the Olympic Games as a site of globalized exploitation of athletes and host city residents.

References

2006 luge women's singles results

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20120229165746/http://www.fil-luge.org/filext/athlet/erfolge_en.asp?p_id=100577 FIL-Luge profile: Retrosi, Samantha
Torino 2006 profile

* [https://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/torino/sliding/2006-02-14-retrosi-hospital_x.htm ''USA Today'' February 14, 2006 article on Retrosi's release from the hospital following her crash at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin]
USA Luge.org profile

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20061116223513/http://www.usoc.org/26_43217.htm United States Olympic Committee profile*

External links

* * 1985 births Living people American female lugers Olympic lugers for the United States Lugers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Saranac Lake, New York 21st-century American sportswomen {{US-luge-bio-stub