“It’s harder than I expected it to be,” Lindsey Vonn talks about life after retiring ahead of 2024 Summer Olympics

Lindsey Vonn talks about how winning gold in the Olympics changed her life ahead of the Paris games.

“It’s harder than I expected it to be,” Lindsey Vonn talks about life after retiring ahead of 2024 Summer Olympics

Lindsey Vonn [Image Credit: Imago]

In a recent interview with BBC’s Katty Kay, Lindsey Vonn sits down with her reminiscing about the Olympic Games and the transition from professional life to retirement. Vonn talks about how winning Olympic gold medals changed her life and the public perspective of her.

“Adrenaline is kind of oxygen for me,” Vonn said. After her retirement in 2019, she finds it hard to get that adrenaline rush and misses competing professionally. Her professional life was marred with injuries, surgeries, and recuperation. One of her most fatal crashes was in the 2013 super-G run. It ended with a season-ending surgery and it affected her career in the later half.

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Vonn recalls the 2002 Olympic Games, talking about how the opening ceremony amazed her, and the experience was comparable to “winning the gold in Vancouver, it was the most emotional experience of my life.” She says before winning gold in 2010, people still congratulated her but it was incomparable to the hype she received after the Olympic Games.

Winning the Olympics is something very special…really set the tone of my awareness in the United States.
Lindsey Vonn in an interview BBC.

But life after retirement “it’s harder than I expected it to be.” Although being an Olympian marked her with “the stamp of validation”, it became “boring” after 2019. Lindsey Vonn found it harder to find something equivalent to the skiing adrenaline rush as “it’s what gets me going.”

Lindsey Vonn’s coach once called her a “turtle”

Speaking about one of her earlier skiing memories, Lindsey Vonn reveals how her then-coach called her a “turtle”. It was when she first started racing, but due to her slow speed, “my coach actually made fun of me.” But once she realized how much she hates losing, “I had a lot of fun with it and I started to be successful.”

Lindsey Vonn [Image Credit: Imago]
Lindsey Vonn [Image Credit: Imago]

During her interview with Katty Kay, she also talks about a winner mentality. To Vonn, “Pressure is a privilege,” and should become a driving force to be better. Furthermore, in today’s social world, athletes are finding it hard to maintain mental strength as hateful comments can sometimes get stuck in your head.

...all it takes is one comment that you read that will just play in your head over and over again…It’s hard to teach a 17-year-old going to the Olympics to compartmentalize.
Lindsey Vonn in an interview with BBC.

When Kay asked Vonn about “filling up the hole of skiing” not that she’s retired, Lindsey Vonn said, “There’s nothing that’s going to fill the hole of ski racing.” The skiing at Kitzbuhel was one of her iconic races as she conquered the hardest men’s track in the world.

However, the experience also felt cruel for Vonn who has retired from racing and returned “back to not doing this anymore.” She described the feeling as the “worst” as she got to enjoy only “a sprinkle of what I used to have.” Currently, she’s invested in business as an entrepreneur. 

She also has to undergo further knee surgeries and recuperation to come somewhat close to how she used to be. As she said,  “My knees are already 50 or 60 years old, I am kinda screwed.”

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