Downhill crash adds to Vonn's long history of hurt

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Jan 30 : Lindsey Vonn said her Olympic dream was not over despite a downhill crash landing her in hospital on Friday, a week before the start of the Milano Cortina Games, and her painful past lends hope to that assertion.

The 41-year-old speed queen and golden great of U.S. Alpine skiing has a history of hurt and knows more about comebacks than most.

She also boasts a medical record as long as her success story, and one not for the faint-hearted.

Those who have written her off in the past have been proven wrong time and again.

The winner of 84 World Cup races and four overall titles, as well as 2010 Olympic downhill gold medallist, has taken her battered body to age-defying heights this season with two wins and five podiums in five downhills before Friday's fall in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.

"This is a very difficult outcome a week before the Olympics," she said on Instagram, confirming an injured left knee. "But if there is one thing I know how to do, it's a comeback.

"My Olympic dream is not over. Thank you for all the love and support. It's not over until it's over."

U.S. broadcaster NBC had brought Vonn and Hollywood movie actor Scarlett Johansson together to promote their 2026 Olympics coverage in a light-hearted "battle of the scars" fireside chat.

In it, some of the skier's more dramatic falls were compared to Johansson's big screen scrapes filming 'Jurassic World: Rebirth' in a world of CGI dinosaurs.

What Vonn has been through over the decades is no joke, however.

'EPIC CRASH' BEFORE TURIN GAMES

In 2006, in training for the downhill at the Turin Olympics, she suffered what she called an "epic crash" and had to be taken by helicopter off the mountain. Two days later she finished eighth.

She headed