You don’t know how utterly ridiculous you sound, have you been drinking?
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Tell me you know nothing about skiing…
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I believe that what we have seen shows that Ms. Vonn was not physically fit to race. Her ACL would have been very painful and doping rules would have prevented her from getting strong pain killers. Other initial treatments would involve RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) to reduce pain and swelling but these would not necessarily been effective for the pain. Completing two practice runs the previous days is not exactly resting
A world class athlete, likely with her knee tightly bound, also in considerable pain managed just 13 seconds on a slope she knew like the back of here hand is telling. Her incident impacted significantly on the other skiers who needed to wait. In the midday sun the snow softened and made it slower for the remaining 20+ challengers which had an impact on the final results.
She was not fit and should have withdrawn. Her decision to race had consequences not only for her but for her fellow athletes.
She literally said she had no pain or swelling. Not everyone has the same experience.
While that may be plausible I don’t see how her knee could have been fully stable or even good enough.
She has won 12 World Cup races on the slope in Cortina d’Ampezzo, more than any other skier. These victories span downhill and super-G events from 2005 to2025, No other racer matches her wins on this course, her self-described favorite.
She obviously knows the slope so it is even more sad that she made the decision, or that she was allowed to compete. We certainly can’t turn back the clock but I certainly hope the Olympic organisers will ensure that only fit athletes, possible evaluated by neutral experts are allowed to compete.
The Olympics used to be the Crème de la crème, which she once was.But a real disappointment.
I am not sure that you can regulate this type of thing. She seemed to be caught up in a self imposed narrative that was stronger than common sense. Independent doctors might have stopped Djokovic in the Melbourne heat where his path to the final has a funny feel about it.
It is not so easy to retire whilst still at or near the top.
An interesting premise, but not hard to see how the “neutral experts” can be weaponized to eliminate legitimate competitors. TBH, the risk of serious injury or death are enough of a deterrent for unfit competitors. Stuff like this only happens once.
Also, are you aware that the starting order is not random? The ones with top points in the FIS ski world cup are among the first 20 to start, then comes the rest. Expecting a miracle lifts hopes and makes great story-telling. But stats are brutally honest, quite improbable that a winner comes from the rest.
Finally, if it’s really really unfair, re-schedule the event. Sports competition it’s 100% artificial:
Ms. Vonn was 13th, leaving at least 6 of the top twenty behind her. While I do agree the best times generally go to those with lower bib numbers there are exceptions such as Federica Brignone (bib 21) and Laura Gauche (bib 26) both making the podium in Crans‑Montana World Cup in tricky conditions.
That’s literal bad luck and part of the game. “You ruined my race” is part of racing.
Apart from that, there’s a woman with a nasty leg fracture who not be out of danger yet. Ms. Vonn is probably full of blood thinners to prevent a deadly blood clot. There’s plenty of cases of a initial good recovery…only to end badly a few hours later. Wait a bit.
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Not really, no. Time was particularly the downhill was much easier than regular world cup events to allow non-skiing nations to send a representive that had some chance of getting down in one piece. Skiing qualification is mainly based on results over the last year or so and Vonn clearly qualified. But there have always been solitary skiers from various random non-skiing nations taking part, I remember this from back in the 80s (no, I can’t remember names). Vanessa Mae (yes, that one) took part in the downhill on Sochi for Thailand and finished dead last.
Perhaps you remember Eddie the Eagle in ski jumping? “Crème de la crème”?
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Do recall this fast dude https://youtu.be/Cz1oJjtPLFQ
I was actually referring to the 60s and 70s.
Innsbruck 1964 downhill result. Winner Zimmermann in 2’18". Last placed skier was a Chilean in 4’51" (plus 7 others above 3 minutes). Pretty wide gap for “Crème de la crème”.
That is why the “Eddie the Eagle rule” came in with some minimum standards set for Olympic qualifying. It makes sense even if it means some of the romance has got lost.
Maybe those were serious times. After Hubertus von Honhenlohe arrived, winter olympics became a party. Hubertus should be the pic used for Paradiesvogel in the dictionary.
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Best moment of the Olympics so far. Especially the photo finish photo. What a cutie.
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New exciting coed sport this year.
I’m surprised nobody mentioned the curling shenanigans with the Canadian “double-touch”. Cheeky chappies…
https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/winter/curling/curling-double-touch-controversy-canada-9.7092482
The controversy over the alleged double-touching first became an issue when, during a match at the Olympics on Friday, Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson accused Canadian curler Marc Kennedy of breaking the rules by touching the granite of the stone with his finger after he let go of the rock.