There are a few names that, upon being pronounced, immediately conjure up an image of their sport in the minds of people.
When someone says Muhammad Ali, it immediately means boxing, just as Usain Bolt means athletics, but this relationship is often reversed in less popular sports.
Golf? Aha, Tajger Vuds.
The case of Lindsey Vonn, one of the greatest skiers of all time, is perhaps unique in this sense.
Because Lindsey Vonn equals skiing and skiing equals Lindsey Vonn.
Even someone like me, who has never set foot on skis in my life, and whose only snow experience is sledding, along with the famous Ingmar Stenmark and Albert Tomba - well, and Janica Kostelić - who are a little older, knows first and foremost about the legendary Lindsey Vonn.
Because she was flying down the slopes, beating stopwatches, and conquering hills throughout my entire growing up... Actually, most of my life when I think about it.
In the meantime, she retired, then returned after a long break and at the age of 41, she plans to compete at the Winter Olympics (WOI) in Italy, defying both age and injuries.
"An incredible personality in the world of skiing, not just women's skiing, but in general," says Nevena Ignjatović, a former skier and today the president of the Ski Association of Serbia, in an interview with BBC Serbian.
"She's truly special, we call her superwoman," adds the four-time Olympian.
And that, watch carefully, despite a hard fall and a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee on January 30th - a week before the start of the Winter Olympics - along with several other minor problems, such as meniscus damage.
"After extensive consultations with doctors, intensive therapy, physical tests and skiing with a prosthesis, I have decided that I am ready to compete in the downhill on Sunday," Von posted on social media.
The Winter Olympics began on the 6th and will last until February 22nd, and Serbia has three representatives - Anja Ilić and Miloš Milosavljević (Nordic skiing), and Aleksa Tomović (Alpine skiing).
However, the eyes of the whole world will be primarily focused on the American skier.
He plans to ski downhill in individual and team competitions, as well as super-G.
"As long as I have a chance, I won't lose hope... I won't give up, it's not over yet," she stressed.
Because that is essentially her story.
About not giving up.
Speed, pain and persistence
It's not easy to list all of Lindsey Vonn's successes.
She won, for example, four Crystal Globes for the best female skier of the season in the World Cup (2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012).
She is the first woman to achieve 82 victories in World Cup races, and she has about thirty races in one season, which means that she has been at the top of the world for several decades.
She has long emphasized that one of her main career goals is to surpass Stenmark's 86 World Cup victories, which is not impossible (Mikaela Shiffrin has since succeeded).
Today, after his recent return to skiing, he has 84 of them.
And mostly in downhill and super jiu (super-g), the fastest and most dangerous disciplines, where hundredths of a second decide everything - both winners and injuries.
That's why she's called the "queen of downhill skiing".
She also has three medals at the Winter Olympics, as well as eight medals at the World Championships, all of which make her a constant participant in debates about the greatest skier of all time.
And this despite numerous serious injuries, which would have many wondering whether to announce the end of their careers and leave their skis leaning against the wall in the basement or attic, letting dust fall on them.
"When you look back at my career, most of the time I wasn't healthy enough to compete - if you want to be healthy, you should choose another sport," Von said in 2019.
"I will have pain for the rest of my life, my knee is permanently damaged - I have no cartilage or meniscus, just plates and screws," she added.
But she always came back and continued to win, even though she repeatedly injured and had surgery on both knees.
They look like the knees of a 60-year-old woman, the doctor told her earlier, so instead of part of the cup it has titanium.
"My body may be broken, but my mind is focused," she pointed out back in 2018.
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She was, for example, one of the favorites to win a medal before the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, but she fell during training and was taken to the hospital by helicopter.
She thought she had broken her spine and that her career was over.
However, within two days she was competing, despite the injury.
She didn't win a medal, but her brave performance earned her the American Olympic Sportsmanship Award.
She suffered her first serious injury in 2013 - a torn anterior and posterior cruciate ligament in her knee, from which many never recover, but she returned after a long break and won Olympic bronze in Sochi.
New knee injuries, broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a broken arm followed, but Vaughn came back and won again.
"She is one of the most persistent, persevering and strongest athletes, not only in skiing, but in all sports," says Ignjatović.
"So much strength in one person is truly special and a motivation for everyone involved in winter sports to never give up"
Due to severe pain and problems, she retired in 2019.
"The pain is too much," she said in tears, adding that she had to stop so she wouldn't have difficulties as an older woman.
However, after a five-year break, she returned to skiing, all with the goal of competing in another Olympic Games.
And this after a complicated knee surgery in April 2024.
"I have nothing left to prove."
"I don't think anyone remembers Michael Jordan coming back, and that didn't diminish his legacy," she pointed out 2025 after the return.
"I've already succeeded, I've already won."
The famous Jordan returned to basketball in 2001 after a multi-year hiatus, playing for the Washington Wizards, but he was no longer the killer Michael from the Chicago Bulls era.
But Vaughn continued where she left off.
She won two World Cup races - the oldest winner of all time - and was second in one, behind the young German skier Emma Eicher, born less than three years after her first World Cup appearance.
She was 0,24 seconds faster than Vonn.
In December 2025, she secured a spot on the US team for the Winter Olympics in Italy, but then lost control during a downhill and ended up in a guardrail.
Despite the heavy fall, she skied down to the finish line, but it was clear that something was wrong and she was taken by helicopter for checkups.
"The Olympic dream is not over... If there's anything I know, it's how to come back," she wrote then.
And now the ski world is watching.
Even those of us who only know skiing by skating.
Lindsey Vonn, personal information and interesting facts:
- She was born on October 18, 1984 in Minnesota.
- She started skiing at a very young age, primarily under the influence of her father, and was long known as one of the world's greatest talents.
- She made her World Cup debut in 2000 as Lindsey Kildow. After marrying American skier Thomas Vonn, she took his last name. They divorced in 2013, but she remained Lindsey Vonn.
- Olympic downhill champion from Vancouver in 2010. At the same Games, she also won bronze in the super-G, and also won bronze in the downhill in Pyeongchang in 2018.
- As the winner of the downhill in the French Val d'Isèro she was given a cow. When she was offered to sell it to the organizers for 5.000 euros, Vaughn refused. She gave the cow to a man from Austria who was willing to take care of it. She called it Olympus
- A book Strength is the new beauty: Embrace your inner beauty, eat healthy, and nurture your power (Strong Is the New Beautiful: Embrace Your Natural Beauty, Eat Clean, and Harness Your Power), written in collaboration with Sarah Toland, was published in 2016.
- She also hosted a reality show. The Pack, in which dogs and their owners competed in various challenges
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About men, women and Trump
In addition to her immense skiing skills, Vonn has attracted attention throughout her decades-long career with media appearances, during which she has always spoken her mind.
She harshly criticized US President Donald Trump during his first term in the White House, for which, she says, she received threats on social media.
She called them ""savage abuse".
"It hurts when you read comments where they want me to break my neck or that God is punishing me for being against Trump," she wrote on Instagram.
In addition, it is often spoke about unequal salaries and rewards for women in sports.
She has repeatedly called on the International Ski Federation (FIS) to allow her to compete against men.
"I train with men and I really enjoy it, I always ski the fastest and best when I compete with them," she said in 2017.
Even though, as she said, she knows she won't win, she wants the chance to try.
"I've won enough World Cup races and I think I deserve a chance."
However, the FIS never approved it.
She is also known to the public for her frequent stories about mental health.
For years, she has pointed this out many times, fought depression and she couldn't get out of bed for days.
"But no matter how depressed I was, skiing always made me happy," she said, adding how relieved she felt when she started talking about it.
Now the time for another Olympic Games.
Just so my knees can hold up.
"I am honored to represent my country once again, at my fifth and final Olympic Games," she announced before the start of the competition.
"When I made the decision to return to skiing, I always set my sights on Cortina because it's a place that's special to me - while I can't guarantee the outcome, I can guarantee that I'll give it my all every time I'm at the starting gate."
After completing her career, she says, she wants to be a "successful businesswoman," and would like to work in film production.
She would also like to become a mother and ski with her children one day.
"I would like people to remember me not just as a skier," she said earlier.
"I hope to be remembered as a leader, and to new generations as someone who proved that impossible things do not exist."
"Anything is possible when you work hard."
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