In Downhill Finale, Lindsey Vonn Shows the Grit That's Made Her Golden

The tears came rolling down Lindsey Vonn's cheeks, though not quite so fast as Vonn roared through what almost certainly was her final Olympic downhill.

Vonn didn't get the happily-ever-after result she hoped for Wednesday in Pyeongchang, South Korea, but she did leave with a bronze medal to go with her downhill gold from the 2010 Games.

"What I've been through, to be able to be here and be giving it my all and to come away hopefully with a medal is a dream come true," Vonn said on NBC. "You have to keep things in perspective. Of course I would have liked a gold medal, but, honestly, this is amazing. And I'm so proud."

Hanging on in this oft-destructive sport, at the age of 33, Vonn became the oldest female Alpine medalist in Olympic history.

She also leaves her marquee event as someone who left no doubt that she lived to ski and who at times seemed to put her life on the line to be part of the sport.

After a horrific crash during a training run at the 2006 Turin Olympics, she was airlifted to a hospital by helicopter yet was back on the slopes two days later, grinding out an eighth-place finish in the downhill. That earned her the U.S. Olympic Spirit Award, for best representing Olympic ideals, in a vote by fans, media and fellow Team USA members.

Then in 2013 in Austria, she was in a chopper again after another crash so brutal it could have made NASCAR drivers cringe.

Along the way, her ACLs were worked over so many times you can't help but wonder if there's any original tissue left in her knees.

But like an echo in the Alps, where she staged so many of her 81 career World Cup victories, she kept coming back.

For this final encore, she wrote the Greek word for "Believe" on the thumb of her right glove, a reminder to trust her gut as she attacked gates at 60 mph and more.

More poignantly, the initials "DK" were written on her racing helmet, in memory of Don Kildow, the grandfather and Korean War vet who helped inspire her determination and who died in November.

"I wanted to win so much because of him," Vonn said on NBC. "But I still think I made him proud. Our family never gives up, and I never gave up. I kept working hard, and I am really proud of this medal. I know he is too."

Vonn wiped away tears and acknowledged that besides flying down the hill for about 100 seconds, she also was on an emotional rollercoaster.

"I struggled today to keep the emotions together, but I left it all on the mountain," she said.

Vonn finished a mere 0.47 seconds behind Italian winner Sofia Goggia and just 0.38 behind silver medalist Ragnhild Mowinckel of Norway. But she's not done with the record books just yet.

She has little hope of winning another medal in Thursday's combined event, but who knows?

"It's been a fun ride," Vonn said. "And I hope tomorrow I can maybe pull something out of the hat."

Regardless of what happens in her final Olympic race, Vonn still has some history left to complete. If she can stay on course after these Olympics and avoid any more terrifying crashes this season and next, she will have an excellent shot at getting the six additional World Cup victories she needs to break the all-time record of 86 by Sweden's Ingemar Stenmark.

Even if she doesn't complete that quest, she's still the greatest skier in American history.

Vonn is so far ahead of anyone else among women in World Cup history that it's like she's on Everest and everybody else is just starting up the mountain. Austria's long-retired Annemarie Moser-Proll had 62 victories, and while Mikaela Shiffrin is coming on strong with 41, the 22-year-old still has a long way to go.

"I wish I could keep going, you know?" Vonn said. "I have so much fun. I love what I do. My body probably can't take another four years, but I don't know. I'm just proud."

If there was a downside to her final Olympics, it was the Twitter noise that erupted after Vonn's disappointing sixth-place finish in the super-G, from people angered by her criticisms of President Donald Trump. But before anyone launches another round of claiming karma was involved in her failure to win Wednesday, remember that Vonn has represented her country faithfully and courageously.

In addition to the gold in the downhill at Vancouver in 2010, she won a super-G bronze there, and then she hung on through repeated physical misery for eight years while fighting her way back to the Olympics.

Such grit was her trademark—every bit as much as her trips to the top of the podium.

Tom Weir covered eight Winter Olympics as a columnist for USA Today.