Olympian Lindsey Vonn recently shared gruesome images of her post-surgery as she reflected on her 19 seasons of skiing career. Often referred to as ski queen, she talked about how surgeries and injuries have ailed the once-skiing champion.
Apart from having to deal with ceaseless pain, Vonn admits she’s “not looking forward to what things look like in 20 years.” After going through multiple injuries and surgeries, the Olympian reveals having a “hard time walking the dog for 10 minutes” if she’s not been exercising any day. “My knee is in extreme pain” so there’s no way to skip exercise otherwise daily walking would be impossible, Vonn states.
Lindsey Vonn further says that even though she loves skiing, the risk was far too great to handle. “I also want a future…that’s exactly how I felt and still feel,” she said. The 39-year-old blew her right knee twice, tore her ACL twice, and suffered from terrible meniscus damage, as well as fractured tibial plateau among other injuries.
I am in pain all the time…This is life now…I don’t really know what my options are at this point but I’m hoping someone comes up with something. Lindsey Vonn on X.
“It’s unreal pain,” Lindsey Vonn on injuries, surgeries, and future medical procedures
Lindsey Vonn admits that during her skiing career, she never thought about the implications and ever-lasting impact her injuries would bring to her future. She talks about her knee replacement surgery and how she’ll need further partial knee replacement surgeries in the 10 and many more years to come.
“It’s bone-to-bone right now and if I’m not strong enough then it’s unreal pain,” Vonn noted. She says it’s only one knee she’s talking about but she’s injured all over her body “many joints and injuries” that she’s not looking forward to the future. “I’ve been bruised and broken,” she said while reflecting on her career.
During her career, she received several accolades but they “outweigh the reward.” She became the first American woman to win a gold medal in downhill at the 2010 Winter Olympics and in her last race, she won a bronze medal and retired in 2019. Ski racing legend Ingemar Stenmark greeted her with a bouquet during her last race.
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