A previous post noted that freestyle skier Sarah Burke was injured in an accident while practicing for the Winter X Games on the halfpipe. Last week, Burke, 29, died from her brain injury. Burke was doing a basic jump on the halfpipe when she landed wrong and tore a vertebral artery in her neck, which attaches to the brain stem.

The injury caused bleeding in the brain and a lack of oxygen to the organ. Burke was put in a medically induced coma and underwent a successful surgery to repair the injury, but the damage to her brain was irreversible.

Burke was a vocal proponent of the winter sport and was part of the push to get the sport into the 2014 Winter Olympics where the Canadian would have been expected to win. Burke won the Winter X Games four times.

With Burke's death, some are questioning whether the sport is too dangerous for athletes. The half-pipe where Burke was injured was the same one where snowboarder Kevin Pearce suffered a traumatic brain injury at the end of 2009. He has been on a long road to recovery since and had to retire from snowboarding.

The skier's teammates and fellow athletes have so far been saying that they believe continuing to put it all into their sport is the best way to honor their friend.

Source: Boston Herald, "Death of skier Sarah Burke raises questions of safety at Winter X Games," Brian Gomez, Jan. 26, 2012