Brutal history nearly repeated itself for Australian Olympic medallist Tess Coady.
The snowboarder has revealed she suffered an ankle fracture in practice, moments before her slopestyle qualifying round at the Beijing Games.
Four years ago, Coady tore an ACL in the final practice before she was supposed to make her Olympic debut.
Coady said in Beijing that she had strained a ligament this time, but she has since posted a photo on social media that showed the extent of the damage to her ankle.
"I ended up just fracturing it a little bit, just a little one, a tiny fracture," she told the Seven Network on Saturday.
"The Australian medical team just went to the end of the earth to help, to get me all good for finals.
Coady said she initially thought the worst when the injury happened.
"I did it on my last run of practice before 'qualys' (qualifying)," she said.
"I was going back up the lift and I was (thinking) 'oh my God'.
"That was what was going through my head ... four years ago.
"It was 'nah, this isn't going to happen again', so I just bit my lip before I dropped in, so it would be less painful, but I made it through."
Coady went on to win bronze, Australia's first medal at the Beijing Games.
She also finished ninth the big air event.
