Skiers back Vonn's call to race at Olympics, even after crash

""People that don't know ski racing don't really understand what happened yesterday," Vonn's teammate Keely Cashman said Monday. "She hooked her arm on the gate, which twisted her around. She was going probably 70 mph, and so that twists your body around. Vonn lost control within seconds of leaving the start house Sunday, clipping the gate with her right shoulder and pinwheeling down the slope before ending up awkwardly on her back, her skis crisscrossed below her and her screams ringing out as medical personnel arrived.""

"She was taken to a clinic in Cortina then transferred to a larger hospital in Treviso, a two-hour drive to the south. Vonn "underwent an orthopedic operation to stabilize a fracture reported in her left leg," the Ca' Foncello hospital said in a statement. The hospital initially said it would release an update Monday then said more information regarding Vonn's condition would come from her team."

"Vonn, a four-time overall World Cup champion, had looked like an Olympic contender in her return to competition after nearly six years. But she ruptured her ACL, along with a bone bruise and meniscus damage, in a training crash in Switzerland on Jan. 30. She continued to prepare for the Olympics, completing multiple downhill training runs at the Games, before Sunday's ill-fated run."

Social reaction split over whether Lindsey Vonn should have raced on a downhill course seen as dangerous even for healthy skiers. Many on social media said she should not have been allowed to compete, while people within ski racing defended the decision. Teammate Keely Cashman described Vonn hooking her arm on a gate, twisting her body at roughly 70 mph and losing control almost immediately. Vonn was transported from Cortina to Treviso and underwent an operation to stabilize a left-leg fracture. The hospital deferred further updates to Vonn's team. Vonn had ruptured her ACL in training on Jan. 30 but continued preparing and completed training runs before the Olympics crash.

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