“Expected to Be Superhuman-” Lindsey Vonn Knows the Challenges Athletes Like Simone Biles and Mikaela Shiffrin Have to Go Through

When Simone Biles withdrew from multiple events at Tokyo Olympics 2020. She received a huge backlash from the fans who expected a repeat, if not an improvement, upon Rio Olympics 2016. However, the Olympic skiing champion Lindsey Vonn helps break down the dynamic between the public and renowned athletes; particularly female athletes.

Vonn highlights the public expectation athletes face and what it takes to be at the top for female athletes.

Lindsey Vonn opens up about fan expectations

The American icon, Lindsey Vonn, is arguably the greatest downhill skier ever. She has a women’s record of 82 World Cup wins, just four victories shy of the overall record held by Ingemar Stenmark (86). But it’s not easy for women to compete at the top of the sport.

Champions like Simone Biles—often considered the best gymnast of our time—and Mikaela Shiffrin, two-time Olympic skiing champion, have to deal with a lot of backlash from the public. Once they established their dominance, fans expected them to win every competition. And failure to do so would often result in criticism.

According to Vonn, the phenomenon is innate for any athlete. “I think it just comes with the territory. Obviously, Mikaela and Simone are amazing athletes,” she explained. “But to some degree, there are traditional sports fans who may not be as exhilarated by women in competition—so it’s almost as if we are expected to win 100% of the time”

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“And when we don’t, there is some criticism, maybe some backlash,” Vonn says the burden lies on the shoulder of every athlete once they reach elite status. “And it’s not necessarily just women, but great champions in general. When you win more than anyone else, you’re expected to be superhuman.”

Vonn has suffered many injuries in her career

As an extreme sport, alpine skiing entails a lot of injuries. But Lindsey Vonn has spent a good deal of her career in and out of hospitals. She had to go through countless surgeries, six just on her knees. The four-time World Cup champion also did a lot of rehabs to bounce back from broken bones, torn ligaments, bone bruises, and whatnot.

She has skied through injuries, stabilizing her limbs by taping them to poles, to claim titles through sheer willpower. But many times, the media has passed her struggles as just being “dramatic”. She wrote in her memoir, “Competitors or people in the media wouldn’t believe that I was hurt or in pain and would accuse me of pretending I was injured to add drama to my run or heighten TV interest.”

Vonn couldn’t bear to have her obstacles treated like a distraction. She pointed out the way media covers male athletes juxtaposed to her. “That accusation of being “dramatic” touches a nerve in part because it’s just not a word that gets thrown at men in the same way,” she continued.

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She claims that if she were a man, “Instead of doubting my honesty, they would have celebrated my grit.” And, when you look at her history of career-ending injuries, Vonn competing for so long and at the top is nothing short of a miracle.