Abernathy's top finishes include third place at the Nations Cup in
Igls,
Austria in January 2004, and third place at the Nations Cup in
Königssee, in February 2004. She finished in the top 10 in seven of the eight events in the 2004–2005 Nations Cup series. Abernathy finished 25th in the
37th World Championships in 2004 in
Nagano,
Japan, but did not compete in the
2005 championships in
Park City,
Utah, due to injuries suffered during
homologation at the
Cesana Pariol track in
Cesana,
Italy, three weeks earlier. Abernathy suffered a serious accident during a World Cup race in
Altenberg,
Germany in January 2001 that resulted in a brain injury. To recover, she used an
alternative medicine treatment involving controlling rockets in a video game through electrical impulses from brain waves, a therapy designed to help her retrain her brain to compensate for the damaged areas. The therapy was successful and Abernathy was able to return to competition in time to qualify for the
2002 Winter Olympics. The story of Abernathy's crash and recovery was featured on the
Discovery Health Channel series
Impact: Stories of Survival (Season 1, episode 1). 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. At the
2002 Winter Olympics in
Salt Lake City, Abernathy became the oldest woman to compete in a Winter Olympic Games. She was also the first 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. In the
1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, Abernathy became the first athlete to create an online diary which was an exclusive on
AOL. Before her first Olympic appearance in
1988, Abernathy was diagnosed and treated for
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Although the cancer returned several times during her sports career, the fact was kept hidden from the public through three Olympic appearances. ==References==