VANCOUVER — U.S. ski star Lindsey Vonn has a badly bruised and possibly fractured right shin that is causing “excruciating pain” and may force her out of the Winter Olympics, she revealed Wednesday.
Vonn suffered the injury during a Feb. 2 training run in Austria and has not been on the slopes since.
A practice run Thursday at Whistler will indicate whether she might ski none, all or some of her five planned Olympic races.
“This is definitely the most painful injury I’ve ever had,” Vonn said. “It’s hard to stay positive. It’s hard to focus on being prepared for the Olympics when you have an injury like this.
“Three days ago I would have said absolutely not (competing). It feels better. I’m optimistic but not sure.”
World downhill and Super-G champion Vonn, who has dominated both disciplines in the World Cup season, fell during her first training run eight days ago.
“I came down, got twisted funny and went over my skis,” Vonn said.
“It was painful right away. I didn’t know how bad it was until I took off my boot and I couldn’t walk. It was really scary. I was very emotional for quite a few days.”
The injury is where her boot meets her leg.
“It’s probably the worst place,” Vonn explained. “You feel it in every turn.”
The 25-year-old has ignored doctors’ pleas to have x-rays, so she has no idea whether or not there might be a hairline break that would end her season, although she claimed she would not cause any greater damage by skiing on it.
“I don’t know it’s not broken,” Vonn said. “I didn’t want to hear my shin was fractured. If my shin was fractured I wouldn’t be skiing for the rest of the season.”
Her medical support staff wants to know but respects their patient’s choice not to risk having her Olympics end with a diagnosis.
“Yeah, they would, but I said no,” Vonn said. “My doctor felt the bone and said it looked pretty stable.”
Vonn, featured in a new bikini photo shoot for Sports Illustrated, has even resorted to a bizarre treatment on the injury.
She has used a type of cheesecake, a German curd-like filling called Topfen, to wrap around her shin among several therapies to reduce swelling. 
“I’m pretty much doing anything and everything to make it feel better,” Vonn said.
Vonn was also injured in a training run just before the 2006 Turin Olympics but competed.
“Torino was a very painful situation but I was able to push through it. Knowing I did it before gives me confidence I can do it again,” she said.
“When I’m in the starting gate, if I’m in the starting gate, I’ll be racing to win.”
Hopes of following the multi-medal heroics of US swim star Michael Phelps in Beijing have given way to just trying to reach an Olympic podium.
“I’m just out to ski well. I’m not trying to get five medals,” Vonn said. “I’m not trying to be Michael Phelps.”
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