If it wasn’t for Sarah Burke, there might not have been a ski halfpipe event to compete in at the Winter Olympics this year. Burke, who died before she could realize her dreams of competing in the event on the Olympic stage, was celebrated by her fellow skiers on Thursday in a moving tribute.

Sarah Burke's Tribute At Sochi

Had Burke been alive, she’d have been the favorite to win the gold in the first-ever Olympic ski halfpipe. Rising to the occasion to capture the medal in her absence was American Maddie Bowman. Once on the podium, with the medal around her neck, Bowman raised her arms upwards, towards the skies.

“Sarah Burke is watching over us tonight. We just want to honor her as much as we can,” explained Bowman to NBC Sports.

France's Marie Martinod, who placed second, pointed up as well. “I pointed to the sky because the IOC did not want us to wear [the stickers] on our helmets,” Martinod told NBC. “So, we all decided we would point to the sky as a sign of respect for Sarah.”

The stickers Martinod was referring to had been worn by skiers all around the globe in honor of the late world champion. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) determined that the stickers were too political in nature to be worn during the Olympic Games. Without the ability to wear the stickers to honor Burke, the skiers on the podium – as well as all of the Olympic halfpipe workers – symbolically pointed above.

Burke's Family Watches Sochi Halfpipe

There to watch the event that Burke lobbied the IOC to include in the Olympic Games were her surviving husband, Rory Bushfield, and her parents, Gord Burke and Jan Phelan. They were able to witness the tribute firsthand.

"It seems that it never ends," Gord Burke said told USA Today. "Tonight is one of two years' worth of special things that just continue, and it all just comes from people that loved her deeply."

Bowman, who became the youngest American to capture a gold medal at Sochi with her freestyle victory, believes that her childhood idol would be happy with what transpired on the halfpipe on Thursday. "Sarah has inspired us on snow and off snow, and she would have been very proud of how all of the girls rode tonight," Bowman told USA Today. "I sure hope that I and everyone else made her proud, because we would have not been here without her."

Burke died in January 2012 from injuries sustained in a training accident on the Park City Mountain Resort Eagle superpipe. The skiing pioneer, who was 29 when she died, has left an enduring legacy in her sport.

– Chelsea Regan

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