Self-doubt and uncertainty combine with pride during an athlete’s years of training as the winter games or any world-class contest can be quite a rollercoaster of feelings.

Hendrickson, although she believes herself to be the underdog, is also quite confident that her knee is healed and ready for her ski jump. “My knee is still five months out of surgery and I knew it would react a little bit” to the stress of training again, she said. “But it’s actually done pretty well. I’m confident in what I’ve done with it, and I’m confident in what I can do here in Sochi.”

Whether or not Hendrickson medals in the 2014 Winter Games, getting to this point was due to the focus and dedication she put in to get the job done.

Lindsey Vonn had quite another mix of emotions mulling around in her psyche being forced to watch the 2014 Olympics from the sidelines.

An Olympic downhill hopeful this year, Vonn was forced to withdraw after suffering damage to her knee. Vonn posted her emotional withdrawal to her Facebook page, “I am devastated to announce that I will not be able to compete in Sochi. I did everything I possibly could to somehow get strong enough to overcome having no ACL but the reality has sunk in that my knee is just too unstable to compete at this level.”

What about those athletes deciding that, after all of their training, that they must opt out of the Olympics? Shaun White, another American hopeful believed that the slopestyle course was too difficult and announced last minute that he would not compete in one event, instead focused his efforts on half-pipe. Emotional? You bet! “Difficult,” as Shaun exclaimed to his fans on Twitter.

Perhaps Shaun was also a bit intimidated by the course after seeing another Olympian take a spill, “It’s always disappointing when you see a fellow rider go down and is unable to compete,” White said after training. “It’s definitely intimidating when you’ve got to run the same course right after him.”

These 2014 Olympic Games will run the gamut of emotions for all participants!

When the jumps are over and the medals are received, the focus turns to relief that participation is now over. For certain gold medal winners, there will also be a unique surprise. Gold medal winners on day nine will have a piece of meteorite that crashed in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk earlier this year embedded into the metal.

A sense of achievement, a purpose to what these athletes have given up in exchange for a win and for the glory accompanies the gold.