The Rush: Olympic legend Lindsey Vonn talks about what she’s most afraid of and how she’s aiding the mental health of athletes

Lindsey Vonn joins The Rush to talk about the mental health of athletes, what was good (and bad) about staying in the Olympic village, what she’s most afraid of and her important partnership with Allianz.

Video Transcript

JARED QUAY: You're famous for flying down a hill at like, 80 miles an hour, and that's terrifying for pretty much every other human. So my question to you is, what is Lindsey Vonn afraid of?

What's up, everybody? I'm here with skiing legend and business bad ass Lindsey Vonn. How are you doing today, Lindsey?

LINDSEY VONN: I'm great. How are you?

JARED QUAY: I'm doing good. The Tokyo games are happening a month from now. Does this time of year make you want to un-retire and put the skis back on?

LINDSEY VONN: Yeah. Watching the Olympics is always tough because I'm so jealous of all the athletes. I definitely know that I'm not going to be making a comeback anytime soon, but that doesn't stop me from being jealous.

JARED QUAY: Now that you're watching it from the viewer's point of view, what are you looking forward to when you watch the games?

LINDSEY VONN: I'm inspired by Olympians just like everybody else. I think there's so many incredible stories of overcoming adversity and strength that, I don't know, it's very inspiring to watch.

JARED QUAY: What summer Olympic event would you have loved to try if you could have been in any summer Olympic event?

LINDSEY VONN: I would love to be a tennis player if I could be in a summer sport. I would love to be a tennis player. I know I'm never going to be good enough or I would never be good enough because it's just not my skill set, but tennis is like a physical chess match. There's so much mental outsmarting that goes on that you don't really see, and it's a sport with no helmet. So you can actually see the athlete's expression, and that's something really cool about the sport that not a lot of other sports have.

JARED QUAY: My thought process about the Olympics that blows my mind and I want to ask you like, what's the best and worst parts of being subjected to an Olympic Village?

LINDSEY VONN: I mean, the best part is being around other athletes. I love being around physical specimens and just asking them like, how they prepare. And I'm a big person of just always asking random questions. The worst part is there's just a lot of noise.

So I was in the Olympic Village in 2002, and it's interesting. Some athletes would finish before others, and so they would be partying and having a good time. And other athletes were still having to prepare for their event. So it's like, it can be a lot going on. But, again, I think the positives outweigh the negatives. I love being around athletes and so much respect for everyone in their sport.

JARED QUAY: That's amazing. So some athletes are like tunnel visioning into they're like, lock zone. And other athletes are playing beer pong because they're finished. I never thought about that. You know what's even crazier to me, is that you're famous for flying down a huge like 80 miles an hour. And that's terrifying for pretty much every other human. So my question to you is, what is Lindsey Vonn afraid of?

LINDSEY VONN: Bugs.

[SCREAM]

I'm not afraid of really anything, especially when it comes like physical danger, or risk, or adrenaline. And like, anything that you would think is dangerous is something that I would love to do-- skydiving, race car driving, skiing down the mountain at 80 miles an hour. Those are really exciting things to me. But like, a spider in my bed? Not cool, not cool.

JARED QUAY: As one of the best athletes in the world for so many years, what kind of advice do you give to some of today's Olympians on how do they can handle stress and mental health?

LINDSEY VONN: Handling mental health is you know one thing that's really underrated and not really talked about. I think most recently we really started to have this conversation and help support athletes, especially some of the athletes that have never been to the Olympics like skateboarders, who this is the first time they've ever been in the games. So for me, I'm really psyched that I was able to help partner with Allianz and their Support Dog Squad because, again, there's so much mental stress at the Olympics. And pairing these new Olympians with emotional support dogs and giving them that extra support is really important. So I think the best part is we're talking about it. And, again, I'm really happy to be partners.

JARED QUAY: And can you tell us more about what you're doing with Allianz and exactly how people can get involved?

LINDSEY VONN: Yeah. I mean, people can get involved by going to confidence.allianz.com. And again, what we're doing is pairing Olympic skateboarders with support dogs and helping give them the extra mental, emotional support they need going into the Olympics.

JARED QUAY: One of my last question to you is it seems like you haven't slowed down in retirement. You're in the water. You're in the weight room, on mountains producing content, playing piano, and singing with Hugh Jackman. Answer this-- are you secretly the most interesting woman in the world?

LINDSEY VONN: No one's asked me that. But like, I don't know. Maybe I am. Like, you just never know. I mean, I feel like I'm doing a lot of fun things.

I feel like I know I have a new lease on life. When I was racing, I was so focused on my job. I didn't want to do any other sports because I didn't want to get injured. I was always you know in the weight room.

Basically, my life revolved around doing one thing and that was skiing fast. And now, I feel like the floodgates have opened, and I can do all of these other fun things that I've never done in my life. And I'm really enjoying it.

JARED QUAY: Lindsey, thank you so much for Rushing with me today. I hope to see the skateboarders and their support dogs in Tokyo. Thank you for all the things you're doing.

LINDSEY VONN: Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

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