Former Olympian Lindsey Vonn Inducted Into Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame

Former skiing superstar Lindsey Vonn received a very special honor from the state of Colorado this week.

Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

Former Team USA Olympic and World Cup alpine ski champion Lindsey Vonn received a very special honor earlier this month as she was inducted into the Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame.

The Minnesota native who moved to Vail, Colorado in her youth won three medals (one gold) during her four Olympics as well as eight medals (two gold) in the World Championships and 82 World Cup wins.

According to Outside Online, Vonn joked to Ski and Snowboard Club Vail that she 'liked to do everything fast' and as a result would not have a lengthy speech, something that proved to be true as she thanked those who were most important to her career.

Vonn spoke to SKI before her ceremony in Colorado and reflected on her career that is one of the most decorated in the history of alpine skiing.

"Oftentimes as an athlete, you are so focused and don’t take the time to look around and appreciate where all the hard work has gotten you,” she said. “It’s so meaningful for me to be here now, to be recognized by my peers and all of these people that I grew up with who have shaped my life in some way, shape, or form. It’s a very full-circle moment and I don’t take anything for granted."

Vonn had a near two-decade career in racing, making her World Cup debut in 2000 at the age of 16 and finally retiring in 2019 at the age of 34 following another World Championship medal which made her the only alpine skier in the history of the sport to win medals in six different World Championships.

Perhaps Vonn's most impressive accomplishments are her multiple comebacks from injuries that were severe enough to end her career, most notably a knee injury in late 2013 where she tore her ACL, an injury that held her out of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. She said to SKI that she recently had a knee replacement, something that has alleviated a lot of the pain she had been dealing with throughout and after her career and will allow her to continue to ski, bike, lift weights, and do all kinds of activities that she has struggled with over the years.

Today, she spends half her time in Utah and the other half in Miami while remaining an intricate part of her nonprofit organization, the Lindsey Vonn Foundation, which seeks to "empower young girls from underserved communities" through variouis scholarship programs and camps.