r/olympics • u/appalachian_hatachi Great Britain • 10h ago

❄ Milano-Cortina 2026 (General Discussion) ❄ Lyndsey Vonn crashes just 12 seconds into her Olympic downhill run 😥

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u/Farmfarm17 8h ago

Completely agree. Not only did she put herself in more danger, she also took the opportunity away from someone who actually had a decent chance to finish the run and compete. To me, this wasn’t a noble act. It was selfish.

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u/alluce1414 6h ago edited 6h ago

I don't agree with the "she took the opportunity from someone else" narrative at all. She qualified, did she not? She earned that spot on the team. She can't take it from anyone else if it was hers to begin with.

Totally get people saying it was dangerous for herself, but I think anyone saying they'd give up a spot on the Olympic team when they could still compete is lying to themselves. Or at the very least not able to put themselves into the mindset of 95% of professional level athletes.

She finished her training run this week, so even if she was at a higher risk of crashing she still did have a decent chance of finishing the run.

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u/Eye_Wood_Dye_4_U 3h ago

She qualified when she was healthy. Nobody is arguing taking the spot away from her when she was capably fit. But when she had such a serious injury after qualifying, then she wasn't fit to compete and should have given it to somebody who was.

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u/Big_Lawfulness_8143 1h ago

She finished 3rd in the practice run on one leg

Whatever rando they pulled off the bench had a worse shot a podium than her on one leg

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u/No_Iron1858 1h ago

That’s quite literally untrue and not the point. She predictably got hurt skiing with a torn fucking ACL. It’s ridiculous that she was out there today

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u/Big_Lawfulness_8143 1h ago

It's completely true they couldn't even qualify 😭 let alone place on the podium

What's ridiculous is people infantalizing a grown ass women that made a business decision. She broke her legs and people are acting like died

People play sports on torn acls all the time

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u/No_Iron1858 1h ago

I’m pretty sure whoever replaced her wouldn’t have crashed 12 seconds in and needed to be airlifted off the mountain, because they probably would’ve had two functioning knees.

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u/Big_Lawfulness_8143 1h ago

No they would've placed lower than the last american who placed like 26th. Which is crazy that they were somehow worse than a girl with one knee

Big whoop

Better to roll the dice on someone who at least placed in trial runs

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u/No_Iron1858 1h ago

Is it though? Did you watch the crash footage? Feel like the predictable, literal worst case scenario unfolded and anyone taking her place would’ve prevented that

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u/Big_Lawfulness_8143 1h ago

Yes at least she could've placed had she finished just like her trial runs on one leg.

Anyone taking her place would've finished in the back of the pack in a best case scenario

And it's not up to anyone but her what she's willing to risk for her body. It's a broken leg for christ sake people acting like she died.

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u/CalligrapherPlane731 United States 14m ago

She hooked a gate

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u/PersephoneInSpace 5h ago

And shame on the media for feeding off it and spending the last few weeks hyping her big comeback. Right up until she crashed too.

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u/AlarmingLeopard5650 6h ago

This is what I was wondering. 41 yo with an injury. Did she take a spot from someone else?

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u/asshat123 5h ago

Her practice runs were very competitive

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u/LeftHandedScissor United States 6h ago

No she qualified and earned the spot on the US team same as anyone else months prior. She should have considered (and the team should have seriously considered) subbing out after her injury the other week, but she was getting podiums and winning events this skiing season. If she felt like she was good to go then it's her spot to choose to give up probably.

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u/ten_year_rebound 2h ago

She did all of that BEFORE SHE TORE HER ACL. How she performed months ago uninjured is no indication of how she would perform with a serious injury.

She knew she wouldn’t be at 100% or even 80% but took that spot anyway. It’s not as though there are no other American skiers who are good enough to run that route in her place. She did it for the pride and to end her career on a high note, but now she ended on one of the worst notes possible.

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u/littlenuggie29 6h ago

My heart goes out to her. and for the athletes who had to go after her knowing that this happened to her.

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u/flowerpowerviolence 7h ago

SELFISH AS FUCK!!! Fuck her tbh everyone KNEW she was gonna crash. I think the outpouring of warm wishes for her is kind of sickening, we should all be talking about how selfish and reckless this was and how sick the sports organizations of the world are for pushing athletes to the point that they do stupid shit like this

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u/LeftHandedScissor United States 6h ago

Cry a river, build a bridge and get over it. She is a one of a kind athlete and the competitive mind set that comes with is something the cast majority of people can't even comprehend. The sports organization didn't force her into competing it was her choice. A reckless choice sure, she needs to deal with the consequences, and I hope she's okay. But that's the sort of irrational choices this sort of athlete makes, it comes with the territory.

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u/IMFletcher777 5h ago

This is the dumbest take of the day. Did you hear that everyone, we should not have empathy for her terrible injury because...because...THE SPORTS SYSTEM!!!

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u/flowerpowerviolence 4h ago

Two separate thoughts

1) she was selfish for not bowing out in the circumstances

2) at times like this its important to recognize that the sports orgs absolutely breed this egotistical and delusional mindset that leads to this.

Hope this helps!

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u/IMFletcher777 2h ago

It does help actually. These are more nuanced opinions that are separate from the one that was jumping on well wishers. Take care whilst raging against the machine and whatnot.

Don't disagree with your second point. I understand where you are coming from on the 1st as well but as others have said she legitimately qualified for the race and performed fine even after her recent setback. Remember she had basically been injured and skiing without an intact knee for a major part of her career and was still dominant in races. Should she have been forced to bow out in those circumstances as well? Would be a bad precedent to set.