Lindsey Vonn gives health update, reveals she’s had 3 surgeries since Olympic crash

“I had my third surgery today and it was successful,” she said. “Success today has a completely different meaning than it did a few days ago. I’m making progress, and while it is slow, I know I’ll be okay.”

Vonn thanked her family and friends, as well as the medical staff treating her and the fans who have sent her messages of support in the aftermath of her crash.

Vonn’s injury came just nine days after she ruptured the ACL in her left knee during a crash in a World Cup race. She said that her crash in the Olympics had nothing to do with that injury.

“I was simply 5 inches too tight on my line when my right arm hooked inside of the gate, twisting me and resulted in my crash. My ACL and past injuries had nothing to do with my crash whatsoever,” she said.

Teammate Keely Cashman also said Vonn’s ACL had nothing to do with her crash.

“Totally incorrect,” said Cashman — who was knocked unconscious in a serious crash five years ago. “People that don’t know ski racing don’t really understand what happened yesterday. She hooked her arm on the gate, which twisted her around. She was going probably 70 miles an hour, and so that twists your body around. That has nothing to do with her ACL, nothing to with her knee. I think a lot of people are ridiculing that, and a lot people don’t (know) what’s going on.”

So, what exactly does her injury mean? A doctor explained the recovery process — and it’s intensive.

“The most likely scenario would be an external fixator where we put, essentially, an erector set around the knee to stabilize a broken joint,” said Dr. Mark Schultzel, an orthopedic surgeon at Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego and a member of the U.S. Olympic team medical staff.

Because Vonn said she’s going to need multiple procedures, it most likely means she’s going to be off her feet for a while.

“In terms of the recovery, an external fixator is really meant to temporize things until she can a definitive surgical fixation later on in time to allow her soft tissue to recover and her swelling to resolve to put things like plates on the inside of the bone,” Schultzel said. “That would leave her off of her leg for six to eight weeks, minimum.”