Lindsey Vonn

My Hero: Lindsey Vonn

By: Ashley Hunt

Lindsey Vonn Web MapBy: Ashley HuntI chose a book called Rise to Learn about Lindsey Vonn, the best women downhill skier in the world. It is an autobiography, and the start of the book takes place when Lindsey Vonn first went skiing when she was around 2 years old. I chose to read about  Lindsey Vonn because she proves that Women can win and that she knows how to conquer her fears. I enjoyed this book because I got to learn how hard Lindsey´s life is, and the challenges she had to overcome. I thought it was interesting when I heard that not many people believed in her, but Lindsey was confident and turned their negative words into power. This book is amazing in my opinion because it wasn't only good, but it gave me another perspective on skiing. I would recommend this book fully! Rise has 317 pages, the timespan this book covers is 1986 to 2019, but it isn't in any way boring, it covers the most important parts of her life. It was published on January 11, 2022. This book was written by the top women skier, Lindsey Vonn herself. She was born on October 18th, 1984 as Lindsey Kildow, she started “skiing” two years later. Lindsey suffered from depression later in her life, her coaches, when she was in the world cup ski racing team, didn’t believe in her as much as they should have, but Lindsey turned the negativity into strength and skied the best in the World Cup, but no one even acknowledged her and she was downgraded even though she was the best on the team. Lindsey eventually proved herself to be good enough on the team.

Lindsey Vonn Head And Shoulder DrawingBy: Ashley HuntLindsey was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. She was raised in Burnsville, Minnesota, just outside of Minneapolis. She started skiing at a small hill called Buck Hill. Lindsey’s dad was a world junior champion, he skied for the U.S. National Junior Team, but he had an accident and couldn’t compete anymore, but he still skied for fun, his name is Alan Kidlow. Lindsey Vonn´s mom is named Linda Krohn, Linda didn’t ski, since she had a stroke, but she still supported them. Lindsey is the oldest of all her siblings, she has five younger siblings, the second oldest is Karin, the triplets: are her sister Laura, and her brothers Dylan and Reed. Lindsey Vonn is currently not married. When she had a divorce with Thomas Vonn she kept her last name. Lindsey went to school a little bit when she was very young but instantly quit when she decided she wanted to be in the 2002 Olympics, she spent her whole life building up to be a better skier, when she was at high school age she ended up going to school to get into a ski squad. Lindsey had to overcome depression because her parents got a divorce. She never went out until she got medications. Lindsey also has had multiple crashes but that didn’t stop her from doing the thing she loves most. Lindsey’s family moved all over to help her reach her goal, Lindsey used to be the most uncautious girl in her ski squad until she had a serious skiing fearless accident that scared her. Lindsey was influenced by her father and her ski coach in her earlier years, also her grandpa, as well as her teenage boyfriend who she later married then divorced. Her grandfather was responsible for a piece of her father’s accomplishments. And Lindsey’s boyfriend was always there for her. Lindsey’s old coach always believed in her, even when no one did. When Lindsey was nine years old she had a dream, a dream that she would be in the 2002 Olympics, her dad took this seriously and helped her work up to her goal, Lindsey ended up fulfilling her goal. She knew exactly what she wanted to do the moment she went on the ski hill the first time. She enjoyed the breeze, the crisp air, and most of all, the speed. So many people in Lindsey’s family influenced her at a young age, Her Grandfather was always there, he would clear his whole schedule for Lindsey. Lindsey’s dad was a ski coach and would take her as a baby down the ski hill.

Lindsey Vonn Action PictureBy: Ashley HuntLindsey has faced many obstacles in her life, she has gotten injured multiple times, a lot by crashing. Lindsey has suffered from depression, had to deal with negative energy, and numerous people have told her and said to her face that she couldn’t do anything right. Lindsey lived with four other siblings, so sometimes she and her sister Karin would have to babysit, and that is a lot of kids to look after. Lindsey one time couldn’t open a champagne bottle, but couldn’t, she felt embarrassed because she was on video and in front of a lot of people. Lindsey had to live her life knowing that one mistake could end her career forever. Lindsey didn’t only have to prove to the judges, she had to prove to herself. Lindsey used to not have any faith in herself, she didn’t always believe in herself entirely, Some ways she conquered the hill was when one of her friends built this little electronic device that she could program to show a few sentences, Lindsey programmed it to say things like: “You can do this’, or `you are amazing”. Lindsey’s Dad was a great planner, he got Lindsey into the 2002 Olympics, after that her coaches and teammates were very helpful for keeping her happy and confident, also surprisingly the people who didn’t believe in her helped as I said, she turned negativity into fuel. The most important person was herself. The 2002 Olympics was the start of Lindsey’s career, it was such a good opportunity for Lindsey. Lindsey is very passionate, I know this because her favourite place is the hill and she used to do anything for skiing, for example, once the weather was so bad that everyone left and they closed the lift down, but Lindsey stayed out, and climbed the hill, then skied back down, and repeat that until it was to go home. Lindsey is strong, She doesn’t ever give up, even no one believes in her, when no one is there for her, she still pulls through, when she gets injured, she still skis. One case was when she was racing, she hit a jump weirdly, went down the hill backward, and hit another jump and landed on her back, she ended up in the hospital after that. I think that Lindsey is brave because she goes down the hill at up to 130 kilometres per hour, she doesn’t care if the conditions are bad, it can be super foggy and she will still compete, I know this because she once woke up in the night and heard her own coaches talking about how she’s never gonna make it, and she’s gonna fail. The next day she beat everybody to prove her coaches wrong, and she did that because she is confident. There was this one day, it was pretty important, it was the day when Lindsey won gold in the Olympics. Lindsey was asked to open a champagne bottle and spray the crowd, but Lindsey couldn’t figure out how to open it. She drank it before but never had to open it. By now it was a disaster, the cork was already broken and Lindsey couldn’t open it, then somebody told her to take ski and break the neck, Lindsey did as they said and used her ski, then Lindsey put her thumb on the top and shook the bottle and sprayed, they only celebrated for a moment before they saw blood rushing down her arm, and this wasn’t a small cut, it was big and deep.  She figured out that she cut her tendons. Lindsey has won three Olympic gold medals, two bronze medals, and three bronze medals. Lindsey has been on a few talk shows, including Oprah Winfrey’s.

In this book I learned that Lindsey wasn’t scared when she was skiing, what she was scared of was whenever she got injured she would always wonder if this was the end to her career, she would fight so hard to recover so she could get back on the hill, and I appreciate that. Another thing Lindsey did that surprised me was she announced to the world that she has been battling depression. If I could ask Lindsey anything right now, I would ask her: “Why did you retire?” “How did you cope with depression and the pressure of professionally skiing at the same time?” “What’s it like being known as the best female ski racer in the world?” I think Lindsey would be a great mom but I wouldn’t want to be her child because I don’t take risks as she does, and I do skiing just for fun, I couldn't handle all the pressure. I loved this book because I learned so much about Lindsey that I couldn’t imagine would happen to her, I also learned to believe in myself, and to take chances. One thing I learned is that her best friend was named Lindsay and without her, Lindsey was thinking of quitting. Another reason why Lindsey is my hero is that when she is skiing she doesn’t think about anything except proving people wrong when they say she can’t do it, which I think is amazing, I like to prove people wrong also, but most people believe in me, I love how people believe in me, but I don’t get many opportunities to prove someone wrong. But I love skiing almost as much as Lindsey. I would recommend this book to people who Like skiing or are interested in learning more about skiing. I’m glad I chose to learn about Lindsey, it was an interesting experience, and Lindsey is a fascinating subject in my opinion. I think Lindsey would be a great role model for any skiers or ski racers, and I think she is an amazing hero. I hope other people will think of her as a hero too. She is an awesome hero, skier, and just a person in general, she has had such a wacky life, and so many crashes, and negative people in her life that I appreciate her confidence.