Twenty-nine year old skier Lindsey Vonn is a two time Olympian and four time World Cup winner.  In the 2010 Olympics, she won the gold medal for the downhill run for team USA, being the first woman ever to win gold for this event. She has won fifty-nine World Cup races in her career. Her Gold and Bronze medals from the Olympics and two Gold from World Cup have made her the best American skier in history.

On January 7, 2014, she decided to drop out of the Sochi Olympics due to a partially torn ACL that she obtained in November. After she thought she had recovered her knee, she participated in the World Cup on December 21, but during her run her knee gave out, ruining her chances of skiing during the Olympic Games. This was the same knee she had hurt the previous year during a crash at the World Championships, and spent almost all of 2013 recovering from it.

Vonn’s has to have surgery in order for her to heal completely, which she is receiving in February when she returns home to Vail, Colorado. She hopes to be well enough to compete in the 2014 World Cup.

The USA Olympic team has lost their most valuable and decorated player. The team and all of her sponsors are now in search of a replacement.