Lindsey Vonn credits Simone Biles for widening mental health discussion after own battle with depression

Lindsey Vonn has credited athletes like Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka with taking the discussion about mental health in sport on a “global scale.”

One of the most successful female skiers of all time, the American has previously spoken of her own battles with depression during an illustrious career in which Vonn won 82 World Cup races in all five alpine skiing disciplines.

Both Biles and Osaka have spoken publicly in the past year about their mental health issues, with the former withdrawing from various events at Tokyo 2020 to focus on her health.

Vonn believes the couple and others like them deserve great credit for opening up.

“The fact that Simone [Biles] he spoke about it and withdrew from his competition at the Olympics really shed light on this in a way that hasn’t been done before, “Vonn said.

“They really took the conversation on a global scale that we hadn’t seen before.

“I didn’t deal with depression until later in my career. After the Olympics, it was a very isolated time, maybe a combination of the fact that the coaches didn’t believe in me and also because they demoted me.

“I went from having the best Olympic result on the women’s side to going back to the lower level races, [and] not having someone to lean on “.

Vonn retired from competitive skiing in 2019, closing his impressive career with three gold medals in major championships, including a gold in Olympic downhill at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

Born in Minnesota, she traveled for several years to train in Colorado before her family moved to the Vail resort to further her hopes for a professional career.

This allowed Vonn to make a World Cup debut at the age of 16 and an Olympic debut two years later in Salt Lake City 2002.

Vonn praised her father for his role in helping her host an Olympics at home at such a young age.

“We wanted to make a plan that would take us to the Salt Lake Olympics.

“I had to travel abroad and be with other runners. He was really the orchestrator – for someone to believe in a 9-year-old boy, that’s pretty amazing.”

The 37-year-old also revealed that the pandemic helped her find peace in retirement, as she initially struggled to leave the sport in which she had spent her entire adult life.

“When you change careers, especially when there is no option to come back, it is a very difficult transition,” explained Vonn.

“I took that time during the covid to reflect and now I’m in a great place, I can watch races as much as I want and not feel too bad.

“I’m still a little jealous, I think I always will be, but I can see my teammates and be exceptionally happy for them.”

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