ST. MORITZ, Switzerland (AP) — Lindsey Vonn didn’t just pop into the hospital one day, get a new titanium knee and then decide on the way out that she wanted to return to downhill ski racing.
It’s been a long, calculated process involving several minor and some major knee surgeries, careful vetting of the medical issues involved and then months of on-snow testing in New Zealand, Austria and Colorado to see how her body and new knee would react at age 40.
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Lindsey Vonn talks with a coach after competing in a Super G skiing race at Copper Mountain Ski Resort, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, in Copper Mountain, Colo. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Forerunner Lindsey Vonn finishes a run before a women's World Cup super-G ski race, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Beaver Creek, Colo. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Lindsey Vonn prepares to be a forerunner at a women's World Cup downhill training run, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Beaver Creek. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Lindsey Vonn talks with a coach after competing in a Super G skiing race at Copper Mountain Ski Resort, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, in Copper Mountain, Colo. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Forerunner Lindsey Vonn skis before a women's World Cup super-G ski race, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Beaver Creek, Colo. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Lindsey Vonn watches the other racers after her first downhill forerun on the Birds of Prey at the World Cup skiing event, Wednesday, Dec. 11, in Beaver Creek, Colo. (Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily via AP)
So now that she’s preparing to step into a World Cup starting gate this weekend for the first time in nearly six years for super-G races in St. Moritz on Saturday and Sunday, she’s getting fed up with how several of her fellow skiing champions are questioning why she would return to the sport’s most dangerous disciplines at such an advanced age.
“I’ve been thinking about getting a replacement for several years. I did a lot of research. I know people think that I’m insane. But I am actually kind of smart. I have done a few operations, so I know a few doctors. I talked to a lot of them,” Vonn said. “I talked to (extreme skier) Chris Davenport, who also had a partial knee replacement and he skis like 150 days a year. … So that gave me a lot of confidence."
Vonn got most of her medical advice from Tom Hackett, an orthopedic surgeon at The Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colorado, who has operated on her knees and arm and is affiliated with the U.S. Ski Team.
“He’s sort of been my guide. He helped me interview doctors from around the world to make sure that they were in it for the right reasons," Vonn said. “A lot of doctors said they could fix me and make me better. But generally when you say that right off the bat it’s probably not true.”
Hackett helped Vonn find Martin Roche, a South Florida-based orthopedist specializing in complex knee disorders.
Hackett already had performed a “preparation” surgery in July 2023 to try to slow down the need for a replacement while also preparing other parts of Vonn’s knee for an eventual replacement.
Then, in April, Roche performed a robot-assisted replacement, cutting off part of the bone in Vonn’s knee and replacing it with two titanium pieces.
“Once you commit to something you got to commit,” Vonn said. “Once they’re cutting you open that is what it is. So I did all the front-end research and now I’m reaping the rewards on the back end.”
But Vonn, who won a record 43 World Cup downhills before retiring in 2019, has not exactly been given a warm welcome back by some well-known retired skiers.
Two-time Olympic champion Michaela Dorfmeister suggested that “Vonn should see a psychologist,” adding on Austrian TV, “Does she want to kill herself?”
Austrian downhill great Franz Klammer said “she’s gone completely mad.”
Four-time overall World Cup champion Pirmin Zurbriggen added his name to the doubters when he told Swiss tabloid Blick on Wednesday that “there is a risk that Vonn will tear her artificial knee to pieces. And in such a way that she will never be able to do any sport properly for the rest of her life.”
“I have the feeling that Vonn hasn’t recognized the meaning and purpose of her other life in recent years,” Zurbriggen added. “She has probably suffered from no longer being a celebrated champion."
After Zurbriggen’s comments were published, Vonn hit back on social media.
“I’m getting pretty tired of people predicting negative things about my future,” she wrote Wednesday on X. “Did they all become doctors and I missed it, because they talk like they know more than the best doctors in the world.”
No woman older than 34 has won a World Cup race. But several men have performed well in the sport near or after 40.
Johan Clarey set the record for the oldest podium finisher with a second-place result in the famed Hahnenkamm downhill in Kitzbuehel, Austria, at age 42 in January 2023.
“I’m not the first person to do it; I’m just maybe the first woman to do it in ski racing. Simone Biles is the perfect example of what can be done at an older age — and she’s not even old,” Vonn said of the gymnast who became the oldest woman to win the all-around Olympic title in nearly 75 years at the Paris Games this year — at 27.
“It’s just outside of the confines of what we believe is the right age for the sport," Vonn said. "I don’t think I’m reinventing the wheel. I’m just doing what I feel is right for me but at the same time continuing on what other women have done before me.”
AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing
Lindsey Vonn talks with a coach after competing in a Super G skiing race at Copper Mountain Ski Resort, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, in Copper Mountain, Colo. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Forerunner Lindsey Vonn finishes a run before a women's World Cup super-G ski race, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Beaver Creek, Colo. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Lindsey Vonn prepares to be a forerunner at a women's World Cup downhill training run, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Beaver Creek. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Lindsey Vonn talks with a coach after competing in a Super G skiing race at Copper Mountain Ski Resort, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024, in Copper Mountain, Colo. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Forerunner Lindsey Vonn skis before a women's World Cup super-G ski race, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Beaver Creek, Colo. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Lindsey Vonn watches the other racers after her first downhill forerun on the Birds of Prey at the World Cup skiing event, Wednesday, Dec. 11, in Beaver Creek, Colo. (Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily via AP)
MAMOUDZOU, Mayotte (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron arrived Thursday in the Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte to survey Cyclone Chido’s destruction and was immediately confronted with a first-hand account of devastation across the French territory.
“Mayotte is demolished,” Assane Haloi, a security agent, told Macron after he stepped off the plane.
Macron had been moving along in a line of people greeting him when Haloi grasped his hand and spoke for a minute about the harrowing conditions the islands faced without bare essentials since Saturday when the strongest cyclone in nearly a century ripped through the French territory off the coast of Africa.
“We are without water, without electricity, there is nowhere to go because everything is demolished,” she said. “We can’t even shelter, we are all wet with our children covering ourselves with whatever we have so that we can sleep.”
At least 31 people have died and more than 1,500 people were injured, more than 200 critically, French authorities said. But it’s feared hundreds or even thousands of people have died.
Macron arrived shortly after The Associated Press and other journalists from outside were able to reach Mayotte to provide accounts from survivors of the horror over the weekend when winds howled above 220 kph (136 mph) and peeled the roofs and walls from homes that collapsed around the people sheltering inside.
In the shantytown Kaweni on the outskirts of the capital Mamoudzou, a swath of hillside homes was reduced to scraps of corrugated metal, plastic, piles of bedding and clothing, and pieces of timber marking the frame where homes once stood.
“Those of us who are here are still in shock, but God let us live,” Nassirou Hamidouni said as he dug in the rubble of his former home. “We are sad. We can’t sleep because of all of the houses that have been destroyed.”
Macron took a helicopter tour of the damage and then met with patients and staff at a hospital, who described having to work around the clock.
A woman who works in the psychological unit became emotional as she described staff becoming exhausted and unable to care for patients.
“Help the hospital staff, help the hospital,” the woman, whose name was not known, pleaded. “Everyone from top to bottom is wiped out.”
Macron, who was wearing a traditional red, black and gold Mayotte scarf over his white dress shirt and tie, put his hand on her shoulder as she wiped away tears.
He sought to reassure people that tons of food, medical aid and additional rescuers arrived with him and more help was on its way in the form of water and a field hospital to be set up Friday. A navy ship brought 180 tons of aid and equipment, the French military said.
But the visit took a testy turn when Macron was criticized for being out of touch about what was happening on the ground by a man who said they had gone six days in Ouangani without water or a visit from rescue services.
The president said it took the military four days to clear the roads and get a plan in place to deliver aid.
"If you want to continue shouting to get airtime,” Macron said as he was cut off, by the man saying he didn't intend to shout. “If you are interested in my response, if not I will walk away.”
Residents have expressed agony at not knowing if loved ones were dead or missing, partly because of the hasty burials required under Muslim practice to lay the dead to rest within 24 hours.
“We’re dealing with open-air mass graves," said Estelle Youssoufa, who represents Mayotte in the French parliament. "There are no rescuers, no one has come to recover the buried bodies.”
Macron acknowledged that many who died haven’t been reported. He said phone services will be repaired “in the coming days” so that people can report their missing loved ones.
Mayotte, with a population of 320,000 residents and an estimated 100,000 additional migrants, is France’s poorest territory.
It is part an archipelago located between mainland Africa’s east coast and northern Madagascar that had been a French colony. Mayotte voted to remain part of France in a 1974 referendum as the rest of the islands became the independent nation of Comoros
The cyclone devastated entire neighborhoods as many people ignored warnings, thinking the storm wouldn’t be so extreme.
Signs of the disaster and its impact were everywhere.
Streets remained swamped in puddles. Bright clothing was hung to dry on the wooden frames of homes and along the railings of a footbridge over a debris-strewn stream in the Kaweni slum. Throngs of motorbikes and cars lined up at a gas station still in service.
Families sprawled out on blankets at a school where 500 people were taking shelter. Women washed clothing in buckets of water as children played with the pieces of a giant chessboard.
Alibouna Haithouna, a displaced mother of four, was with her own mother who had been forced to leave a hospital after her son died there.
“There was a tragedy. We lost my brother. We are here," Haithouna said. “My brother’s body, we haven’t been able to get it from the hospital because there is a lot of paperwork to do and in addition to that you have to pay to recover the body.”
Corbet reported from Paris. Associated Press journalist Masha Macpherson in Paris and Brian Melley in London contributed.
Mohamed Ankidine, 28, third left, with feet injuries, Saindou Dahabou who suffers from diabetes, and Alibouna Haithouna, 33, find refuge at the Lycée des Lumières after losing their homes, in Mamoudzou, Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
Workers start the process of reconstruction, in Mamoudzou, Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
Women wash clothes after a short rain filled their pots with water, at the Lycée des Lumières where they found shelter after losing their homes, in Mamoudzou, Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024 . (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
A child plays at the Lycée des Lumières where he found shelter, in Mamoudzou, Mayotte, on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
People interact by an outdoor chess board, after finding refuge at the Lycée des Lumières after losing their homes, in Mamoudzou, Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
A French officer directs traffic for essential vehicles, in Mamoudzou, Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
People walk along partially flooded roads, in Mamoudzou, Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
A child sleeps at the Lycée des Lumières where he found refuge, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024 in Mamoudzou, Mayotte, (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
People walk past debris in the Kaweni slum Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, on the outskirts of Mamoudzou, in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
People walk past debris in the Kaweni slum Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, on the outskirts of Mamoudzou, in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
A woman carrying her belongings walks past debris after Cyclone Chido in the Kaweni slum Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, on the outskirts of Mamoudzou, in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
Damage is seen in the Kaweni slum Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, on the outskirts of Mamoudzou, in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
People get water from a well in the lower part of the Kaweni slum where they used to have tap water, on the outskirts of Mamoudzou, in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
Cleared debris after Cyclone Chido are seen in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mamoudzou, in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
A man starts rebuilding his shack in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mamoudzou, in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
People get water from a well in the lower part of the Kaweni slum where they used to have tap water, on the outskirts of Mamoudzou, in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
Nassirou Hamidouni, 28, father of five, stands amongst the debris of the neighboring destroyed home in the slum of Kaweni on the outskirts of Mamoudzou, in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
Debris litters a stream in the Kaweni slum in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido.. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant))
People queue for gas in Mamoudzou, in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
People queue for gas in Mamoudzou, in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
Women wash clothes in a stream in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mamoudzou in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
A man stands on his roof in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mamoudzou in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
A boy sits in his destroyed home in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mamoudzou in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
A boy stands amidst debris in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mamoudzou in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
People queue for gas in Mamoudzou in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
A young girl walks in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mamoudzou, in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
A young girl walks in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mamoudzou, in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
Women rest on a footbridge over a stream filled with debris in the Kaweni slum in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
