Lindsey Vonn, Having Guts, and Living Your One and Only Life

Sometimes toughness means bowing out; other times toughness means sending it.

Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press

A week before she was supposed to complete her Olympic comeback, downhill skier Lindsey Vonn suffered an awful crash. She was airlifted off the mountain and learned she had torn her ACL.

But at 41, she decided to compete in the Winter Olympics anyway. Sometimes when you’ve given a goal your all, you owe it to yourself to try, even when the odds are stacked against you.

“As long as there’s a chance, I will try,” Vonn said prior to the Games. “I will do everything in my power to be at the starting gate.”

On Friday, she stunned everyone when she completed her practice run effortlessly. With a torn ligament in her knee. In her fifth Olympics.

“My intention is to race everything,” she explained.

Unfortunately, that intention met reality. During her first competitive race on Sunday, in the women’s downhill event, Vonn crashed. She appeared to be in great pain. It was gutting to watch. As of this writing, we are awaiting an update on what, if any, further injuries she sustained.

What It Means to Be Gutsy and Tough

Critics will say (and have already said) that Vonn took someone else’s spot. But that’s nonsense. She earned her right to compete in the most objective way—seconds on a clock. She’s one of the greatest ever. She can make whatever decision aligns with her values, just like we all must do every day.

Sometimes the gutsy and “tough” thing to do is to pull the plug, especially when you know it’s not going to happen and you’d be taking unacceptable risk. It’s the choice Simone Biles made in 2021.

Other times the gutsy and “tough” thing to do is stay in the game and send it. It’s the choice Lindsey Vonn made. That choice was between her and her team, and has nothing to do with what those on couches have to say.

Once you commit to staying in the game, so many other decisions go away. You take the pressure off yourself, because you’ve already made the choice. It’s what is meant by the saying discipline is freedom—it’s the freedom to pursue your goals and focus on the things that matter most. It’s the freedom to put your heart and soul into something, and leave it all out there. When you commit to a process, when you accept that you will have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, when you’re okay to just go down swinging, you gain a simple and powerful clarity.

Unfortunately, for Vonn, her decision to go for it didn’t unfold as she’d hope. But hindsight is twenty-twenty. The choice she made (in the moment she made it) reflects the person who she is.

Be Yourself and Go All The Way

Lindsey Vonn has been training and competing in sport for her entire life. This is likely her last Olympics. Who is anyone to take that away from her?

What if the meaning of life for Vonn is (and has always been) pushing her limits and sending it? "Because I push the limits, I crash, and I've been injured more times than I would like to admit—to myself, even," Vonn told ESPN.

"I've been working really hard to come into these Games in a much different position [than in years past]," she continued. "I know what my chances were before the crash, and I know my chances aren't the same as it stands today. But I know there's still a chance, and as long as there's a chance, I will try,” she said.

In The Way of Excellence, I write that the zenith of excellence is being yourself and going all the way. Sometimes this leads to great wins. Other times it leads to terrible defeats. But in both cases, you know you stepped into the arena and gave it a shot. It’s precisely what Vonn did, and it’s the embodiment of authenticity—not the self-help, popular psychology, feel-good version; but the real thing: being true to who you are, even, and perhaps especially, in the toughest of moments.

I hope Vonn is okay. I hope her medical team advised her well. I hope she can be proud of the effort she gave.

I’m not judging her decision to race in either direction, good or bad. It was never my decision (or anyone else’s) to make. You only live once. You owe it to yourself to live in alignment with your values. You owe it to yourself to take your shot.

P.s., My new book, The Way of Excellence, is an instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller. If you enjoy my writing, I promise you’ll love the book. Get your copy now: Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes and Noble