VONN FOR THE ROAD
Ski legend ends career with bronze
ARE, Sweden — Lindsey Vonn walked off with her career haul of medals in her right hand, the gold, silver and bronze clinking together, almost weighing her down.
Or was it the bulging knee braces and metal support rods inside her vast array of broken bones?
Whatever it was, the sound was a reminder of what Vonn has come to symbolize — an athlete who battled back from one major injury after another throughout her career to win more ski races than any other woman.
Add one more — final — comeback to the list Five days after crashing in super-G — a fall that knocked the wind out of her and left her with a black eye and a bruised rib — and three months after tearing a ligament in her left knee, Vonn won the bronze medal in the world championship downhill Sunday in the final race of her career.
She’s shed so many tears that there are none left — just like she no longer has any cartilage in her knees.
“I’m literally tapped out, I can’t cry anymore,” Vonn said. “I want to cry but it’s dry. ... It’s not an easy thing to feel your bones hitting together and continue to push through it.
“Of course I’m sore. Even before the crash I was sore. So I’m just sore on top of sore. My neck is killing me. But at the end of the day, no one cares if my neck hurts. They only care if I win. ... I knew that I was capable of pushing through the pain one last time and I did that. ... Every athlete has their own obstacles, and I faced mine head on today and I conquered them.”