Lindsey Vonn crash

why give up her spot to someone who couldn't beat a 41 year old with a completely rebuilt knee in the Olympic trials. she earned it and life is short. she went for it. much respect.

Not even close to the same as O’Keefe. That might have been Fiona’s only chance and there was really no chance for any other USA athlete to medal anyway. Vonn has already won a gold medal. I was all for it if she was healthy, but a TORN ACL IS NOT HEALTHY! Kudos to her, but she probably should have given the spot to the next person.

I think it's fine that she went for it but I wish she wasn't such a publicity hound. I feel bad for the American woman who actually won. Imagine training almost your whole life for that one moment, and you actually achieve your childhood dream of winning Olympic gold, but you're totally overshadowed by someone else from your country who didn't even finish. Gutted.

Tired of her and her constant need to be the center of attention. NBC bought into her at Allyson Felix levels and I have no idea who else might be competing. Blech.

She’s objectively one of the greatest skiers of all time. She qualified for the US Olympic team and had the third-fastest training run. She crashed going for gold and the media made a big story out of it. I don’t see what she did that’s worthy of criticism. (And I’m not particularly a fan—couldn’t pick her out of a lineup. I just think the snarky comments about her being an attention hog are out of bounds.)

That woman is tough as nails. Awful seeing this.

She had a legit medal chance BEFORE repturing her ACL last week. As soon as that happened, crashing out was always the most likely outcome.

I don’t believe there were any other Americans with the requisite times / points, so I don’t believe anyone got sent home. That being said, you can risk amputation skiing on a torn ACL if you tear everything else in the knee and destroy the artery that feeds your lower leg. The brace might have eliminated that eventuality, but it seems like an incredible risk to take.

This detail should be required knowledge before anyone is allowed to express an opinion on this. She had quite literally skied the hill successfully in an earlier segment of the competition, in a time that made her a legit medal threat. Too many people are opining on the assumption that she crashed right out of the gate the first time she tried to ski on her injured knee.

The risk going into the Olympics wasn’t that she wouldn’t get through the training run—it was that she wouldn’t get through the competition. And she didn’t. Especially when it counted, she blew up right away

I don't get the train wreck spectacle. She had already achieved the highest level of the sport but wanted to go out like this? If she had a chance to win skiing on one leg at age 41 it says alot more about lack of depth in the field than her remaining ability. Not unlike our too old politicians who stay around way too long because they can. This was not a great Olympic moment or athletic achievement. It was the worst that can happen when an athlete don't know when to leave the arena, and there is money to be made on that lack of judgment.

1) I'm glad she went for it.

2) It seems like NBC and everyone is exaggeratinng the severity of this. It is protocal to fly anyone and everyone who can't ski down off the mountain.

When I woke up I tried to find it taped on youtube tv (It tapes all Olympic action ) but it was impossible to find at first. I then turned on regular NBC. The host said she crashed, said she was on the side of the mountain for 20 minutes and was airlifted out and then added we are still waiting for an update onf her condition

The way she dramatized it I immediately turned it off so my son didn't watch it.

She didn't a) Explain it was protocal to fly her off and b) add that the injuries clearly weren't life threatening.

I then found it, watched it and told him to come in and see it. The way it was described I was afraid she'd hit or head or something.

This was all a desperate, narcissistic cry for attention from an aging athlete.

You need an intact ACL to downhill ski, especially when skiing against the best in the world. To think otherwise is moronic. She knew it and anyone with a brain knew it. Now the storyline is how brave and courageous she is, rather than how washed she is. Smart move on her part, but 100% manufactured. The ACL tear was real, the attempt to ski on it was a joke.

She's a publicity hog.

Breezy is an interesting American name. Like randy, or mardy fish.

I bet you said Simone Biles was a coward/quitter/selfish when she couldn't nail a routine and gave up her spot for a teammate.

and the USA doesn't even want universal heathcare for their people. but a medal in an event you don't watch except for 2 weeks every 4 years is important? give me a break.

skiwise, that wasn't the knee that crashed her. she drifted high right up the course to set up coming left on the following curve. she drifted too far up and tagged the flag, helicoptered off it and crashed. porino didn't put it in perfect words but an error of aggression rather than her knee gave. that's her DNA and a 20 year old with good knees probably doesn't save that mistake. once in a blue moon you watch some dude do a 360 on their skis and keep going.

i do think the knee probably compromised the landing, and she apparently broke her leg bad enough it needed surgery.

re biles, she had a psychological issue related to coming out of spins and landing. it was in her head as opposed to neurological, but you're asking someone to do a bunch of gymnastic actions and spins and flips then have the snap to correct and land on their feet, in a split second. if they can't do that for either physical or mental reasons, they shouldn't be playing that day. you can break your neck or back, or wreck your body. and we're not talking just career injuries, we're talking stuff you carry for the rest of your life.

you can say similar things on vonn, people occasionally die or get paralyzed from ski accidents. but that's a red herring here as i explained in an earlier post. i see this crash as more of an over-aggression mistake, hitting a gate, as opposed to an injury compromise. she didn't bounce on a roller and her bad knee gave. she went uphill to cut a gate close and tagged it.

you're confusing those with someone like osaka. even osaka i think has every right to just say i shouldn't be playing tennis now.

re a compromised athlete competing, in TF we take vonn's approach. the runner that wins the trials slot goes to the olympics or worlds, even if they are old or fighting an injury issue. if they blow out a knee or pull a hammy we let them choose if they keep their slot. we let them choose to try to survive a first olympic heat, to get down in the blocks and jog 5 yards, whatever. you win your slot. we don't make you quit and hand it to the 4th place person.

we have allowed replacements if someone fails a covid test or pulls out, from alternates who earn it. but that's either you're ruled out by illness or you choose to give up.

re skiing, there's a confusion i see here. skiing they select their skiiers based in part on ski circuit results. they pick a team. they then decide who of the team does what events. vonn won a team slot easily from ski circuit results. it's unclear if people are saying a chosen teammate should have gotten vonn's race, or if they want us to pull up an alternate who wasn't on the team. an alternate may be sufficiently scrubby their odds of medaling are near nil. an existing team member might be able to do her race but not want a busier schedule.

i don't know how many races they were going to let vonn do. a bunch would have been silly and excessive risk. i am ok with she got one race based on prestige and earning it this season. we ran 4 americans total, not just her, and the counter-theories being proposed are like we should drop a 400m trials winner and use a trials 6th place finisher only there to do relays. or bring in a 7th place runner to replace vonn. i think that's counter to merit and also unlikely to result in medal success.