Lindsey Vonn Wins Gold in Women’s Downhill Ski Event

Ski champion Lindsey Vonn triumphed Wednesday, scoring a Gold medal after 2 intensive weeks of rumours an injury might dash her Olympic hopes.

She stunned sports reporters back on Feb. 10, by announcing that a bad bruise on her right shin – sustained during a slalom training run in Austria on Feb. 2 – might keep her from skiing whatsoever inside the Vancouver Winter Games. Luckily, Vonn had several more days to heal after her events were postponed as a result of weather. Still, she reported right after practice runs on Sunday and Monday of this week that this shin was “throbbing really bad.”

Throbbing or not, the much-reported injury didn’t keep Vonn, a reigning two-time World Cup overall champion, from scoring the Gold within the women’s downhill ski event Wednesday – the first American ever to do so. (Her American teammate Julia Mancuso took the silver.)

“I couldn’t believe the feeling when I looked up and saw my name with No. 1 next to it,” Vonn, who fell over onto her back right after crossing the finish line, told the New York Times right after the race. “It was an unbelievable feeling. I didn’t know what to do, so I just fell down.”