The Pendleton Panther

Linsey Vonn

Lindsey Vonn, an American alpine ski racer, completed her task at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver Canada.  Vonn severely bruised her right shin in a practice run two weeks prior to her first Olympic race.  At first Lindsey could barely walk because the pain was so severe, but that didn’t stop her from winning the downhill race.  She won by more than half a second with a total time of one minute, 44.19 seconds.  The Americans had a 1-2 finish with Julia Mancuso following behind Vonn.  It was the first 1-2 finish in an Olympic Alpine event since 1984.  Elisabeth Goergl from Austria was third, nearly 1 1/2 seconds behind Lindsey Vonn.  “A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders now. I got the gold medal that I came here to get. And now I’m just going to attack every day, with no regrets and no fear.  And, I mean, I’m just happy with one. Anything else from here on out is a bonus,” said Vonn after the downhill race.

Lindsey Vonn

Lindsey Vonn, U.S. Women’s Ski Team member who has dominated the World Cup women’s ski tour, revealed her injury on Wednesday morning in Vancouver.  She has a severe shin injury run that she received a week ago in training.  A deep bruise on her right shin is her injury and she wasn’t able to walk for two days after the crash happened.  Lindsey has had fluid drained from the deep bruise, but it will still take a couple of weeks to completely heal. “It’s essentially a deep muscle bruise, so I have a contusion. So the muscle is bleeding and it’s really deep inside the muscle,” Vonn told TODAY’s Matt Lauer after arriving in Vancouver Tuesday.  The 25 year old is supposed to compete in next Wednesday’s downhill race in which she is a strong favorite to bring home the gold.  Although at this point Lindsey Vonn is very unsure of her future schedule. “I was hoping it would be better by now, and I wouldn’t have to talk about it,” the typically ebullient Vonn said Wednesday, when she appeared crestfallen and rather stone-faced at a U.S. ski team news conference. “That turned out to be wishful thinking.”  Vonn stated that this is by far the worst injury that she has ever had and hopes she can push through the challenge.

Kelly Clark, a member of the US Snowboard team, struggles with her career.  Clark became a member of the US Snowboard team in 2000 and brought home the gold medal in the 2002 Olympics.  She tried to follow up her victory with another gold at the 2006 Olympics, but left deeply disappointed.  Mike Jankowski, US Snowboarding halfpipe coach, said about Kelly, “You’re constantly having to continue these stellar performances on a regular basis.  Thats really, really difficult for anybody to maintain.  She’s had a great journey so far.”    Ever since her win in 2002, Clark said she felt empty.  Two years after the 2002 Olympics, Clark began to give up.  She cut back her competition schedule because she wasn’t getting the same fulfillment and happiness out of the sport.  After going through such a slump, Kelly Clark enters the 2010 Olympics with an optimistic view and has high hopes.  “Not only am I looking to go back and looking to perform my best and come away with another gold medal.  But I’m really looking to have fun”.

Lindsey Vonn

Lindsey Vonn, the first american woman to win back-to-back overall World Cup Championships, went back home to Vail, Colorado a few months ago.  Vonn was born in St Paul, Minnesota but her family moved to Colorado for a few years for her to train.  She grew up on the slopes in Vail and had a warm welcome when she returned.  As she walked into the resort plaza soon she had a crowd of people following her in admiration.  “When I was here as a little girl, it never took me that long to walk 50 yards” Vonn told Bill Pennington from the New York Times.  No other American alpine skier has ever in one single Olympics won more than two medals.  As Vonn was about to begin skiing, she said “I haven’t skied like this in a while- you know, like, alone”.  Lindsey has sacrificed many things in order to be as successful as she has been, but when asked about it Vonn said, “I haven’t gone through all I’ve been through to kick my life goal away.  Not now.”