16 Things to Know About Olympic Skier Lindsey Vonn
After multiple injuries – she’s torn ligaments in her right knee, broke her arm, fractured her ankle, and even sliced her thumb on a champagne bottle (been there!) – Lindsey Vonn is ready for a comeback at the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang.
Vonn had to sit out of the 2014 Sochi Olympics due to her knee injury, but she’s back and ready to take on her fourth Winter Games. She’s already the most decorated female World Cup downhill skier, with Olympic gold and bronze medal under her belt already. And he’s won five of the last eight races leading up to PyeongChang, so there’s no doubt she’s ready to take on the competition. Plus, if she wins a medal, she’ll be the oldest woman – at 33 – to ever get an Olympic Alpine medal.
1. She's never wanted to do anything else. Vonn was born on October 18, 1984 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. "My mom said that I would draw pictures when I was six or seven of me winning races and writing 'The Greatest Skier of All Time,' and signing my name to it," she said. She moved to Vail, Colorado when she was 11-years-old to start training. She was determined to be the best, even as a kid. “I would finish a race and all the 14-year-olds at the bottom would be crying because a 10-year-old had beaten them," she said in an interview with the New York Times.
2. Skiing runs in her blood. Her grandpa was a competitive ski jumper and her dad, Alan Kildow, was a junior national ski champion. They both taught her how to ski basically as soon as she could walk.
