Vonn preparing for U.S. return as surgeries loom

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Lindsey Vonn was preparing to fly back to her home country on Sunday after her terrifying head-over-heels crash in the Olympic downhill, the U.S. Ski Team’s chief told The Associated Press.

Sophie Goldschmidt, president and CEO of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, told the AP the team’s medical staff has been coordinating Vonn’s recovery since the crash and subsequent helicopter evacuation at the Milan Cortina Games and would try to accompany her home.

Vonn has had multiple surgeries in Italy to repair a complex tibia fracture in her left leg.

“We’re working through all of that at the moment,” Goldschmidt said. “We’ve got a great team around helping her and she’ll go back to the U.S. for further surgeries.”

Spectators tuning in to see Vonn attempt to win a medal at age 41 with a torn ACL in her left knee and a partial titanium replacement in her right knee were thrown into shock when the American standout got hooked on a gate 13 seconds into her run – resulting in a spinning, air-born crash that sent her careening down the Dolomite mountain.

“The impact, the silence, everyone was just in shock. And you could tell it was a really nasty injury,” said Goldschmidt, who was in attendance for the fall. “There’s a lot of danger in doing all sorts of Alpine sports but it gives more of an appreciation for how superhuman these athletes are.

“I mean putting your body on the line, going at those speeds, the physicality. Sometimes actually on the broadcast it’s really hard to get that across,” Goldschmidt added. “Danger sometimes brings fans in and is pretty captivating. We obviously hope we won’t have injuries like that but it is unfortunately part and parcel of our sports.”

Vonn herself has no regrets.

“When I think back on my crash, I didn’t stand in the starting gate unaware of the potential consequences,” Vonn said in an Instagram post late Saturday. “I knew what I was doing. I chose to take a risk. Every skier in that starting gate took the same risk. Because even if you are the strongest person in the world, the mountain always holds the cards.

“But just because I was ready, that didn’t guarantee me anything. Nothing in life is guaranteed. That’s the gamble of chasing your dreams, you might fall but if you don’t try you’ll never know,” Vonn added.

Goldschmidt visited Vonn at the hospital twice and said, “She’s not in pain. She’s in a stable condition.

“She took an aggressive line and was all in and it was inches off what could have ended up a very different way,” Goldschmidt said. “But what she’s done for our sports and the sport in general, her being a role model, has gone to a whole new level. You learn often more about people during these tough moments than when they’re winning.”