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U.S. Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn said she can finally return home after multiple surgeries.
She is six days removed from an infamous crash just 13 seconds into her run at the women's downhill in Milan Cortina. She has had four surgeries while pent-up in an Italian hospital.
"Surgery went well today! Thankfully, I will be able to finally go back to the US," Vonn wrote in an Instagram post.
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Vonn held back from revealing certain details about her condition.
"Once I’m back I will give you more updates and info about my injury," she added.
"I have been reading a lot of messages and comments saying that what has happened to me makes them sad. Please, don’t be sad."
Vonn became one of the top stories of the Winter Games, making her return to the world stage after a temporary retirement. She was competing just days after an ACL rupture. When the crash happened, it sent countless American fans into shock and sent Vonn to the operating table for extensive medical procedures.
"When I think back on my crash, I didn’t stand in the starting gate unaware of the potential consequences. I knew what I was doing. I chose to take a risk. Every skier in that starting gate took the same risk. Because even if you are the strongest person in the world, the mountain always holds the cards," she added.
"I was willing to risk and push and sacrifice for something I knew I was absolutely capable of doing. I will always take the risk of crashing while giving it my all, rather than not ski to my potential and have regret. I never want to cross finish line and say, ‘what if?’ And to be perfectly honest, I was stronger physically in that moment than I have been often in the past."
LINDSEY VONN UNDERGOES SURGERY FOR LEG FRACTURE AFTER HARD CRASH DURING OLYMPIC RUN
She says she believes she felt "stronger" for this year's games with a ruptured ACL than she was in 2019 at the time of her first retirement.
"Certainly stronger than I was when I ended career in 2019 where I got a bronze medal in the World Championships. And mentally…. Mentally I was perfect. Clear, focused, hungry, aggressive yet completely calm… just as I had practiced over the past few months when I was on the podium in every downhill this season. 2 wins and leading the standings… that was all a test to prepare me for the Olympics. Mentally, I was more ready than I have ever been," she said.
"But just because I was ready, that didn’t guarantee me anything. Nothing in life is guaranteed. That’s the gamble of chasing your dreams, you might fall but if you don’t try you’ll never know."
Her medical procedures may not be over. She suggested she would need additional surgeries in a Friday Instagram post.
"I’m finally feeling more like myself but I have a long, long way to go," Vonn said Friday.
"Tomorrow, I’ll have another surgery, and, hopefully, that goes well. And then I can potentially leave and go back home, at which point, I’ll need another surgery. Still don’t know exactly what that entails yet until I get some better imaging."
But now she can at least recover at home.
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