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Vonn has a chance to win five medals - 2010/01/18 16:48
It’s that time again.
That time once every two years when the greatest athletes rarely in the spotlight get their moments to shine.
During the summer of 2008, it was swimmer Michael Phelps, whose run of eight gold medals at the Summer Olympics in Beijing captured the imagination of the American public.
MultimediaPhotoview all photos In a month, the attention of the sports world will focus on Vancouver for the XXI Winter Olympics, beginning on Feb. 12.
So don’t be surprised if during the next 30 days you’re inundated with the name Lindsey Vonn. Every Olympics needs a dynamic force to latch onto, and Vonn is the perfect candidate to put out in front of the American public.
Vonn, 25, is the best in the world in a sport all Americans recognize — even if primarily as a recreational activity. Her quest to dominate the Alpine skiing events will be one of the highlighted story lines of the Olympics.
The way Vonn is skiing right now, she has a chance to become the first person to medal in all five Alpine disciplines — downhill, super-G, combined, giant slalom and slalom.
"The toughest thing about ski racing is all the variables,” Vonn said on a conference call this week. "I haven’t given thought to the possibility of winning more than one medal at the Olympics.
"My approach is to always take one day at a time and ski my best in that race. I’m skiing really well right now, but I could get a gust of wind or the weather might change.”
The excitement over Vonn comes from the fact that she is the most successful American female skier in history with 28 World Cup victories. Her victory total ranks second only to Bode Miller (31) in USA history.
With victories in 2008 and ‘09, the Minnesotan is the first American female to win back-to-back overall world championships. Tamara McKinney in 1983 is the only other American woman to win an overall championship.
During the weekend in Haus Im Ennstal, Austria, she became the first American woman to win races on three consecutive days at a World Cup event.
Vonn will be one of the favorites to win the downhill, the super-G and combined events (downhill and slalom) in Vancouver. And again, she could win five medals.
There is speculation that an injury to her lower left arm might keep Vonn from competing in the slalom. A fall Tuesday in a slalom race in Flachau, Austria, did not help matters.
Still, she said she hopes to "ski all five disciplines” in Vancouver.
"I’m hoping my hand will feel better by the time (the Olympics) come around,” she said. "It’s definitely not as painful in the downhill and super-G as in the slalom.”
The United States has only won nine Alpine skiing gold medals in the history of the Olympics. No American has won more than one event at an Olympiad.
Vonn’s quest has the quirky tidbits that help an Olympic story take off.
A prodigy, she was on skis at age two and made her Olympic debut at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games at age 18.
In 2006, at the Torino Games, she crashed during a training run and was hospitalized overnight. Despite a deep hip bruise, she competed the next day and finished eighth. For that effort, she won the U.S. Olympic Spirit Award.
Of note is that she competes in the slaloms on men’s skis.
"The main difference is stability,” Vonn said. "They take more power to turn, but the benefit of the stability outweighs the negative of slightly slower turns.”
And last week there was the dustup from Austrian coaches saying Vonn had an advantage because she carries more pounds than her competitors.
"I just think it’s pretty ridiculous and it definitely irritated me,” said Vonn, who has received an apology from the coaches. "If weight were the key to success in ski racing, everyone would be stuffing their faces with food.
"I pride myself on my work ethic. For someone to say that I’m overweight is just completely ridiculous in my mind. As a woman, I kind of want to drop the subject if I can.”
Because of the nature of the Olympics, Vonn is going to be under a lot of pressure as her profile gets higher leading up to the Games. She might be relatively unknown outside the skiing community but that will change in the next month as she is promoted as one of the brightest hopes for the USA team.
The first time being the center of attention is never an easy thing and managing the increased scrutiny during the next month could be Vonn’s biggest challenge.
On the course, however, she has been entirely in control.
"I can’t explain why I’ve been doing so well,” Vonn said. "I just try to ski the best I can for any race I enter.
"I’m just planning to do the best that I can and hope that all the things come together (at the Olympics).”
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