Olympics-Curling-With mother-in-law in hospital, Denmark’s Dupont just doing her best

By Aadi Nair

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Denmark’s women’s skip Madeleine Dupont on Wednesday said she is trying as hard as she can to balance her family responsibilities with the demands of ​competing at the Winter Olympics as she deals with a ‌crisis off the ice.

Dupont, whose Denmark team are sixth in the standings with four wins and four losses, said her mother-in-law had suffered a heart attack.

“My mother-in-law, who is also my children’s grandma, of course, had a heart attack four days ago and hit ‌her ​head really bad. She’s in a coma in ⁠a hospital nearby and might ⁠not wake up,” Dupont said through tears.

“They (family) actually went home to Denmark yesterday because there’s nothing more they could do here.

“We’re trying to fly new people down here to take over, because it’s a hard ​thing to be in being at the hospital 24 hours. They’re switching a little back and forth.”

Dupont, who is competing in her fourth Olympics, ⁠said her perspective on sport had changed.

“For ⁠the first time yesterday after we lost (to the United States), ​I was like, ‘you know what? This is not even important. It’s important, but ​it’s not important’,” the 38-year-old added.

“And all I can think ‌about is, ‘please just wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up’… As soon as I’m off the ice, it’s like, ‘just please wake up’.”

Asked how she was able to continue competing, Dupont said: “I cry a lot when I’m not ⁠here.

“I just want to be able to look myself in the eyes and be like, ‘okay, I can do this and I can also do this. I don’t ⁠have to do everything ‌perfectly, but I can do things’.

“Many of my shots (on ⁠the ice) are half (what they would be), many phone ​calls ‌are half and quick, but at least I’m just ​trying to be ⁠there all around.”

Denmark beat China on Tuesday to keep their hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals alive.

“It was a good one,” Dupont said.

“I think a 4-4 record is like a pretty solid result in this field. All of them are so good. Losing half, winning half is pretty good.”

(Reporting by Aadi NairEditing ​by Christian Radnedge)