Lindsey Vonn just wants to get her races over with, but it’s not from nerves.
“I am very anxious right now. It’s been a lot of days over here in Korea without racing, and I just need to get going,” the 33-year-old Olympian told Savannah Guthrie on “Today” on Friday.
“I feel like I’ve been a caged bull for the last week and a half and all I wanna do is be set free so I can get my energy out. It’s hard to look at [the mountain] without getting excited.”
Vonn will make her PyeongChang debut with the Super-G event on Friday night and has the downhill and combined events next week. She missed the 2014 Games in Sochi with a torn ACL.
Still, Vonn made it clear that her anxiety isn’t performance-related whatsoever, especially not relative to the youth of her competitors.
“I feel like at my age, I have a lot more experience. I’ve been through this a few times, I’ve already won Olympic gold, so I’m not nervous,” she said. “I don’t feel the pressure. I know the routine, and I think being older gives me a pretty big advantage, so I’m not worried about the young guns just yet.
“I’m mentally stronger, I believe in myself a lot more and I know what my body is capable of. It’s a family thing. It comes from my grandfather and my father as well. It’s a certain grit, where there is no word ‘quit.’ ‘Failure’ is not in my dictionary.”
After a litany of injuries, including two torn ACLs, two concussions and several broken bones, Vonn is interested in what life has in store for her post-skiing career, though that doesn’t mean she’ll be totally out of the spotlight.
That’s especially true if she follows the same path as one of her close friends, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who went from professional wrestling to becoming one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood.
“I have some friends that are actors and actresses, so maybe [show business],” she said. “The Rock, Dwayne — my friend Dwayne,” she said, giggling, “He said he’s gonna help me after this season and I’m gonna follow him around a bit and see if [acting] really is something that I would potentially be able to do.”
Still, don’t bet against Vonn competing again, even though she previously claimed that PyeongChang would be her swan song from the slopes.
“I’ve said it is, but at the same time, if my body holds up, I don’t know,” Vonn hinted. “It’s possible that I could go another round.”