Anne Abernathy

Anne Abernathy

Abernathy in 2006
Personal information
Born	(1953-04-12) April 12, 1953 (age 71)
Website	anneabernathy.com grandmaluge.com
Sport
Sport	Luge, archery
Updated on 1 July 2012.

Julianne “Anne” Abernathy (born April 12, 1953) is a

During practice for the competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics, Abernathy crashed and broke her wrist and her scapula, and was forced to withdraw from competition.

Abernathy is the oldest woman to ever compete in the Winter Olympic Games, breaking the old record during the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. She is the only woman to qualify for six Winter Olympic Games and one of only two female athletes to compete in five Winter Olympics. In 2006, she became the first woman over 50 to qualify for the Winter Olympics.

Abernathy was the first woman to qualify for six Winter Olympics. In the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City she became the oldest woman to ever compete in the Winter Games. She is the oldest female Olympian in any Olympic Games (Winter or Summer) and the first woman over the age of 50 in the Winter Olympics.

During the Albertville Winter Olympics, she became the first athlete to compete with a camera on board, a feat that was nominated for an Emmy in technical broadcast achievement.

In the

Before her first Olympic appearance in 1988, Abernathy was diagnosed and treated for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (cancer). Although the cancer returned several times during her sports career, the fact was kept hidden from the public through three Olympic appearances until it was revealed in a front page article of The Washington Post'' prior to the 1998 Nagano Olympics.

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