William Flaherty was overjoyed when he crossed the finish line of the men’s giant slalom event at Beijing 2022.
It wasn’t the joy of someone who had a chance to win (he finished more than half a minute behind newly-crowned Olympic champion Marco Odermatt), but of someone who had already won.
When he was three years old, Flaherty was diagnosed with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a rare disease seen more often in infants in which the immune system attacks the patient’s organs.
Doctors gave him just a 10% chance of survival but thanks to a bone marrow donation from his brother Charles, who at the time was seven years old and would also later go on to compete at PyeongChang 2018, William pulled through.
Health issues have plagued him for most of his life. He has even been competing in Beijing with a benign tumour in his jaw, Just getting to the Games was a personal triumph.
“I will not be here in four years’ time, unfortunately. I have to have major surgery on my leg. They’re going to take out a bone and remould it into a new jawbone for me, because my left lower mandible is hollow right now. I have to get that all fixed up,” Flaherty said after crossing the finish line.
“Medical complications never stop, but it’s fine. It’s become part of my life at this point.”
“To reflect on the whole story, I’m not sure we have time for that. We could do that for days and days. “To think back on everything I’ve been through, it’s incredible to think that I’ve ended up here,” he added.
And although it’s still a long way to go until Milano Cortina 2026, Flaherty believes it’s highly unlikely that he will return to the highest level.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to come back here. I probably could if I really tried, but I feel it’s time to move on to the next chapter in my life and move on to whatever dreams await me.”
Flaherty is still scheduled to compete in the men’s slalom event on 16 February. It will be the final chapter of an Olympic experience that he considers to be a life lesson.
“It shows that with incredible determination and if you stay focused in life, nothing can hold you back,” he said. “The only thing that can is yourself and your mind. If you put your mind to anything, you can do it if you really try.”
“A hope for the future”
For Flaherty, this Olympic debut was “the climax of eight years of work.” As he explained: “It’s amazing, it’s incredible, I’m almost left speechless.”
And although there is still one event left on his schedule, he has a clear view of what lessons are there to be learned from this Olympic experience.
“The Olympics is such a cool, special place. It shows that despite everyone’s differences in language, religion, political ideals, people can and are capable of uniting under the name of sport and anything else that they’ve got in common,” he said.
“It provides me with hope for the future of the world.”