Although downhill ski race courses usually run between one and three miles, with athletes’ speeds fluctuating between 30 and 70 mph, success and catastrophic failure can come to a matter of mere inches. Lindsey Vonn issued a statement Monday evening following her devastating crash in the Olympic downhill and lamented on the 5 inch mistake she made that ended up with a helicopter ride to address a complex tibia fracture.
Although Lindsey Vonn didn’t get to live out her dream of winning one last Olympic medal before retiring for good, she did not hold back on her attempt despite skiing with a ruptured ACL. To be succinct, she has “no regrets” and is proud that she left it all on the mountain. These are her words:
Lindsey Vonn:
Yesterday my Olympic dream did not finish the way I dreamt it would. It wasn’t a story book ending or a fairy tail, it was just life. I dared to dream and had worked so hard to achieve it. Because in Downhill ski racing the difference between a strategic line and a catastrophic injury can be as small as 5 inches.
I was simply 5 inches too tight on my line when my right arm hooked inside of the gate, twisting me and resulted in my crash. My ACL and past injuries had nothing to do with my crash whatsoever.
Unfortunately, I sustained a complex tibia fracture that is currently stable but will require multiple surgeries to fix properly.
While yesterday did not end the way I had hoped, and despite the intense physical pain it caused, I have no regrets. Standing in the starting gate yesterday was an incredible feeling that I will never forget. Knowing I stood there having a chance to win was a victory in and of itself. I also knew that racing was a risk. It always was and always will be an incredibly dangerous sport.
And similar to ski racing, we take risks in life. We dream. We love. We jump. And sometimes we fall. Sometimes our hearts are broken. Sometimes we don’t achieve the dreams we know we could have. But that is the also the beauty of life; we can try.
I tried. I dreamt. I jumped.
I hope if you take away anything from my journey it’s that you all have the courage to dare greatly. Life is too short not to take chances on yourself. Because the only failure in life is not trying.
I believe in you, just as you believed in me.
-Lindsey Vonn
