A ruptured ACL has not stopped Lindsey Vonn’s Olympic comeback.
The 41-year-old skiing great is at the 2026 Winter Olympics seeking her first gold medal since Vancouver 2010. Her appearance at the Milan Cortina Games was in question just a week ago following a fall during a World Cup downhill race in Switzerland.
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Despite tearing her ACL, Vonn is going ahead and will participate in Sunday’s women’s downhill, an event she won in 2010.
No matter the result, Vonn’s perseverance to finish her comeback with one last Olympic appearance is remarkable. She was already a legend of the sport. This elevates her even higher than that.
Vonn’s stick-to-it-iveness puts her among athletes in history who have shown their toughness while battling through injury and/or adversity. Here are a few sports greats who displayed their guts through difficult times.
Willis Reed, Game 7 of 1970 NBA Finals
After tearing a muscle in his right thigh as the New York Knicks took a 3-2 series lead in Game 5, Willis Reed sat out the Los Angeles Lakers win in Game 6. Heading into the decisive game of the series, there were questions about his availability for Game 7. The 1970 MVP, All-Star Game MVP, All-NBA First Teamer, and NBA All-Defensive First Teamer would hobble out of the locker room during warmups to a rousing ovation at Madison Square Garden.
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Despite only scoring four points and grabbing three rebounds, Reed’s presence helped inspire the Knicks to win the franchise’s first championship. “I didn’t want to have to look at myself in the mirror 20 years later and say I wished I had tried to play,” Reed said.
Jack Youngblood, Super Bowl XIV
The 1979 Los Angeles Rams met the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC divisional round one year after the Cowboys shut them out in the NFC championship game. During a first half that saw LA take a 14-5 lead, defensive end Jack Youngblood suffered an injury that he did not realize the seriousness of until the team doctor informed him. It was a broken leg. After a quick tape job, he was back out there for the remainder of the game, which saw Youngblood sack a retiring Roger Staubach late and the Rams advance with a 21-19 win. Youngblood would play with the bad leg for the rest of the postseason, which saw LA reach Super Bowl XIV — a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The end of the season didn’t mean rest for Youngblood.
He would also travel to Hawaii to play in the Pro Bowl. “Everybody asked me when we got to Hawaii, ‘What the heck are you doing here? You’ve got a broken tibia,” Youngblood later told CBS Sports. “I said, ‘Shut up, I’m not going to miss this party.'”
Kirk Gibson, 1988 World Series
No believed what they had just witnessed, including Hall of Fame broadcaster Jack Buck. Kirk Gibson had only one at-bat for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1988 World Series against the Oakland Athletics and he made it count. With LA down 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs in Game 1 at Dodger Stadium, manager Tommy Lasorda called up Gibson as a pinch hitter for Dave Anderson. Gibson, suffering from a right knee ligament sprain and a strained left hamstring suffered in the NLCS, worked a full count. The eighth pitch of the at-bat saw a backdoor slider from Dennis Eckersley get deposited over the right-field wall to give the Dodgers a Game 1 victory.
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The Dodgers would win three out of the next four games to win the World Series. Gibson would not play again that postseason.
Kerri Strug, one of the American “Magnificent Seven” at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. (AP Foto/Susan Ragan, archivo)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Kerri Strug, 1996 Olympics
One of the “Magnificent Seven,” Kerri Strug was the final U.S. gymnast to take part in the vault as the Russian team was eyeing a comeback and gold medal. He first attempt ended with an injured ankle and she limped to the runway for her second attempt, knowing that a score of 9.762 would earn gold. Her landing wasn’t perfect, but good enough for a score that gave the U.S. the victory. As the team gathered for the medal ceremony, Coach Béla Károlyi carried Strug to the podium so she could be with her teammates.
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Strug ultimately suffered a lateral sprain and damage to her tendon and was unable to take part in the individual all-around competition.
Emmitt Smith, 1994 Week 18
A first-round bye and home-field advantage was on the line in Week 17 of the 1993 NFL season. Nothing was going to take Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith out of their game against the New York Giants, not even a separated shoulder. The future Hall of Famer suffered the injury late in the first half, but returned in the third quarter during the 16-13 overtime win.
Smith had 17 touches after hurting his shoulder and had a hand in nine of Dallas’ 11 plays on the game-winning drive, picking up 41 yards. The running back finished with 168 yards on 32 carries, as well as 10 catches for 61 yards and a touchdown.
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Weeks later, the Cowboys would win their second straight Super Bowl over the Buffalo Bills.
Michael Jordan, 1997 NBA Finals
Call it “The Flu Game” or the “Bad Pizza Game,” but whatever was sapping the energy of Michael Jordan during Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals wasn’t enough to slow down “His Airness.” Jordan scored 38 points, grabbed seven rebounds, dished out five assists, and recorded three steals as the Bulls would win their fifth title in seven seasons.
“That was probably the most difficult thing I’ve ever done,” Jordan said afterward.
Byron Leftwich, Nov. 2002
The Marshall Thundering Herd fell to the Akron Zips 34-20 in late season MAC action, but the lasting memory of that game is Byron Leftwich playing through a broken leg and getting an assist downfield from his teammates.
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After an Akron linebacker fell on his left leg, Leftwich injured the same shin he had surgery on months earlier. After being evaluated on the sideline, he limped back to action minutes later against the protests of the coaching staff and his mother. Leftwich would eventually leave the field and the stadium to get X-rays at a local hospital via a rental van. He returned in the third quarter and went 14-for-24 for 208 yards and one interception following his comeback. Several times in the fourth quarter, the quarterback was carried downfield by linemen Steve Sciullo and Steve Perretta.
Terrell Owens, Super Bowl XXXIX
Seven weeks before Terrell Owens and the Philadelphia Eagles met the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, the wide receiver suffered a broken leg and torn ligament in his right ankle. His surgeon wouldn’t clear him to return to play. The recovery didn’t matter as TO played all but 10 of Philadelphia’s 72 snaps in the Super Bowl and made nine receptions for 122 yards in a losing effort.
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“Nobody in this room knew I was going to play this game,” Owens said. “Nobody knew but me. Dr. [Mark] Myerson, I give him all the respect in the world. You guys believed what he said that I couldn’t play. A lot of people in the world didn’t believe I could play. It goes to show you. The power of prayer and the power of faith will take you all the way. Nothing is impossible if you got God on your side.”
Philip Rivers, 2007 AFC championship game
Philip Rivers wasn’t supposed to play, but a torn ACL and meniscus in his right knee wasn’t going to keep him from leading the San Diego Chargers against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in the 2008 AFC championship game.
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Rivers wasn’t his best, going 19-for-37 for 211, no touchdowns and two interceptions in the Chargers loss, but it showed he was one of the league’s toughest players. It’s no surprise that he is fourth on the NFL’s Ironman streak after playing 255 consecutive games and returned this past season at age 44 to help the Indianapolis Colts down the stretch after retiring in 2020.
Tiger Woods during the 108th US Open Championship playoff round at Torrey Pines South Golf Course in San Diego, CA. (Photo by Chris WIlliams/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Tiger Woods, 2008 U.S. Open
Tiger Woods played with stress fractures in his tibia and a torn ACL during the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Even with the pain showing on his face with each shot, he took the 54-hole lead ahead of Lee Westwood and Rocco Mediate heading into Sunday.
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In each of Woods’ 13 major titles at the time, he had entered the final round with the lead. The 2008 U.S. Open would be no different, but it would be a battle. He shot a 73, opening the door for Mediate to force a Monday, 18-hole playoff. It was a back-and-forth Monday, with Woods going up three strokes after 10 holes and Mediate taking a one-stroke lead through 17 holes. Woods would birdie 18 to force sudden-death, which he would win on the par-4 7th hole.
“It was just constant,” Woods said later about the pain. “The treatment was constant throughout the night. I slept on the massage table, I had my knee drained, iced, elevated, worked on, just trying to get as much inflammation out as I could. Then, I would somehow start activating it in the morning and that was the hardest part because it was so wobbly. Once I finally got going, it was OK.”
Patrice Bergeron, 2011 Stanley Cup Final
The quest to win a Stanley Cup is a four-round grind which follows a difficult 82-game regular season. It took a lot for the Boston Bruins to win the title in 2011. They needed three seven-game series victories, including one over the Vancouver Canucks in the final round. And what follows after team’s see their seasons end in the playoffs is the laundry list of injuries players played through.
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Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron played all seven games of the that year’s Stanley Cup Finals, even as he picked up injuries in three of the final four games. Torn rib cartilage in Game 4; a broken rib in Game 5; and finally, a separated shoulder and punctured left lung in Game 6, which caused a collapse and a three-day hospital stay.
“In my mind, for sure, I wanted to play,” Bergeron said. “I was hoping for the pain to go down but that wasn’t the case. After Game 5, I was in a lot of pain. The next day I was just trying to find a way [to] manage the pain, I guess, but it was definitely there. On the day of Game 6, we met with the doctors and they were telling me the only way I could play was to have a nerve block, otherwise the pain would be too high, so I did that in order to play.”
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