Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy – It should have been the perfect comeback to the Olympic Winter Games. A serious accident prematurely ended the dream of an Olympic victory for Lindsey Vonn. On the second day of the Olympic Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo, the alpine ski racer was thrown off the course. She hit a gate with her arm and ended up in the safety nets. The 41-year-old American had to be airlifted by a helicopter to a nearby hospital.
The TV images shocked fans worldwide. Vonn, the athlete from Minnesota, was lying on the course, and her skis were pointing in opposite directions. “It looked like it was all going fine, but then she tumbled. That was really scary,” said Sam Kantor, a sophomore at SUNY Cortland.
Vonn was plagued by bad luck. Just eight days before the Games in Cortina started, she tore her ACL following a crash in Switzerland. The accident in Crans-Montana during a World Cup race already marked the end of her career for many fans. Vonn wanted to prove them otherwise. After testing the stability of her knee in training, she decided to compete. In an Instagram post, she announced that she and her doctors were sure that she would be able to withstand the demands of a race. The reactions were various. Vonn faced criticism for competing with a heavy injury.
On the other hand, she received a lot of support from fans and celebrities, such as Reese Witherspoon and Billie Jean King. “If I was in the Olympics, I’d be like go for it,” said Sam Kantor. “I will not give up,” wrote Lindsey Vonn on her Instagram.
And she did not. On February 8, the ski star stood at the start gate of the Olympic downhill competition. After four gates, her dream ended. According to her, she suffered a complex tibia fracture that would need to be fixed in multiple surgeries. “There is always a risk when doing sports professionally. That is the way life goes,” said Harry Biehler-Birch, a student from Cortland. Vonn received a lot of fan mail and good wishes. Sam Kantor said, “We are all rooting for her!”
Lindsey Vonn is considered one of the most successful athletes of the United States. Her career is built on 84 World Cup wins and three Olympic medals. This includes a gold medal in the Olympic downhill competition in 2010.
While the Americans were shocked about the injury, they were also very happy with the result in the downhill competition. Vonn’s teammate, Breezy Johnson, got her very first gold medal. The results for the American alpine team are promising. They won three medals in seven competitions so far, including the women’s team combined event and the men’s Super G. There are still three more alpine ski competitions taking place before the Olympic Winter Games end on February 22. The US team is currently in third place in the medal table with 17 podium finishes.