The Brazilian started a competition in Italy, securing her spot for the Winter Olympics. The day after the race, she tested positive for Covid-19 and was quarantined in the country. This Thursday, the athlete was already recovered, traveling to Munich airport, Germany, where she would take the RT-PCR exams required for traveling to China, but suffered a severe car accident near Obervintl, Italy, and had to be transferred by helicopter to a hospital in Bolzano.

According to the athlete, the driver attempted a dangerous overtaking on the road and hit a truck. The athlete suffered several bruises, fractures in the foot, arm, three ribs, and left shoulder. The driver died instantly.

“I was sitting in the back seat and wearing a seat belt. The doctors said that’s what saved me. I’m not going to the Winter Olympics this time, but I’m alive,” Bruna told news agency Globo.

At 27, Bruna Moura would start in her first Winter Olympics. The Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) and Brazilian Snow Sports Federation (CBDN) named Eduarda Ribera for the Olympics to replace Bruna.

In an official note, the Brazilian Olympic Committee announced the new nomination:

“With the impossibility of immediately boarding to Beijing, COB and CBDN named the athlete Eduarda Ribera, third place among the athletes who competed for the two women’s spots in Brazil. Eduarda had already been complying with the protocols required by the Organizing Committee and should leave for China this Friday, 28.”