MILAN — How much heartache is too much for an Olympic athlete?
It's hard not to wonder as Kristen Santos-Griswold, the 31-year-old American short track speedskater,competes in the 2026 Winter Games in Italy.
The heartache started a month before the U.S. Olympic trials for the 2018 Winter Games. Santos-Griswold sliced multiple tendons in her left hand and wrist on an opponent's skate during a crash.
She needed surgery but still competed at the trials while wearing a cast and placed fourth, failing to make the U.S. Olympic team by one spot.
The heartache continued at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. Santos-Griswold was racing in the 1,000-meter final and, with two laps to go, in position to become the first U.S. woman short track speedskater to medal at the Olympics in 12 years.
Then she got taken out by Italy's Arianna Fontana, a 10-time Olympic medalist, and crashed. It relegated Santos-Griswold to a fourth-place finish, one spot away from a medal.
Santos-Griswold said she considered quitting after the crash in Beijing.
"I had to really sit there and think about it in four years the same thing happens again, would that be worth it?" she said in October at the Team USA Media. "And so obviously I'm here, so I did decide that it would be."
Yuma Kagiyama of Team Japan competes in Men's Single Skating - Short Program on day one of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics at Milano Ice Skating Arena on February 7, 2026 in Milan, Italy. Kagiyama pulled off a stunning routine that received 108.67 points, placing first in the event." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
See emotional moments of triumph and defeat at 2026 Winter Olympics
Yuma Kagiyama of Team Japan competes in Men's Single Skating - Short Program on day one of the Milano Cortina2026 Winter Olympicsat Milano Ice Skating Arena on February 7, 2026 in Milan, Italy. Kagiyama pulled off a stunning routine that received 108.67 points, placing first in the event.
For better or worse
Santos-Griswold married her husband, Travis, on July 7, 2021. They'd already experienced for better or worse even before reciting their wedding vows.
In December 2017, when another skater cut tendons in Santos-Griswold's left hand and wrist, Travis Griswold took off a month from work to help Santos-Griswold recuperate and to accompany her to the U.S. Olympic trials.
He said he learned how to tie her skates because with a cast on her hand she couldn't do it herself.
"It was probably the most stressful time because you'd be surprised how particular athletes are with how their skates are tied until she would let me know when I did it wrong,'' he said.
Santos-Griswold finished just short of making the U.S. Olympic team, but Travis Griswold said he participates in training.
"She comes home and it might be 9:00 p.m. and I'm about ready to go to bed and she wants to do a core workout,'' Travis Griswold said. "So we get down and do a core workout because it's those little things that really add up at the end of the day.
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"It's like she just will never give up.''
'Why can't I?'
At the World Short Track Championships in 2024, Santos-Griswold won five medals and the Crystal Globe, awarded to world's top all-around female short track skater.
She was at the pinnacle.
Then in May 2025, she broke her clavicle in a bike accident and struggled with back issues. She has continued to experience back trouble. But perhaps her biggest problem is slowing down.
The coaches wanted the speed skater who was doing late-night core workouts with her husband to give her body a break.
"I was so used to training and going and pushing myself so hard every single, digging myself into a hole, doing everything, going above and beyond, and realizing that now that I'm older, I can't do that anymore,'' Santos-Griswold said. "But seeing my teammates be able to do it, it was kind of a bit of a mind game of they're doing it, why can't I?''
Then, Santos-Griswold said, someone sat her down one day and helped her see the bigger picture.
Santos-Griswold is married. Her younger teammates are not.
She has a degree in kinesiology from the University of Utah. Her younger teammates do not have college degrees.
Scared to watch the video
Santos-Griswold said she was upset and heartbroken after the crash at the Beijing Games, but it was something else that made it difficult for her to watch the videotape.
"Honestly. I was scared to watch it and be, like, I did that to myself, I put myself in a bad position, all of that. And I felt like it was easier to sit there and blame the person who took me out or blame this or blame that, rather than be like, I could have been in a better spot. I could have done this at this time. I could have done that and not let it happen," Santos-Griswold said. "And yeah ... that was a little bit of comforting to put it on someone else for the time, but something that I realized going into this Games I need to learn from and move forward from.''
Progress occurred.
"I think the first time I watched it, I definitely teared up a bit,'' Santos-Griswold said. "But I think that kind of helped me realize that while I still can't be in control of what other people do in this sport, I can be in control of how I handle situations and how I learn from them and grow from them.''
She's committed to doing that during the Milano Cortina Games at the risk of more heartache.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Kristen Santos-Griswold's speed skating journey: Heartbreak to hope
