Lindsey Vonn

The athlete on the stage is talking about playing in pain. The babe on the website is standing on the side of a mountain in a white bikini and red snow boots. The athlete on the stage is talking about dealing with the pressure of a debilitating shin injury and suffocating Olympic hopes. The babe on the website is posing seductively in a white fur wrap too small for her chest and hot pants too tight for her bottom. Only in American women's sports would these two divergent creatures be the same person.

Lindsey Vonn earned her 50th World Cup win Saturday at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, taking the downhill on the Kandahar course with temperatures plunging to minus 13. "It's crazy. I am at a loss for words. I already cried with one of the TV crews and that is enough crying for the day," Vonn said. "Fifty World Cup wins is a huge mark for me in my career and more than I even thought possible. I just wanted the 50th win. " Few skiers reach the 50-win landmark. Among the women, only Annemarie Moser-Proell of Austria (62)

Lindsey Vonn was going downhill so fast -- in a wholesome, epic, lucrative way -- there wasn't time to wait for her to actually win an Olympic medal. Lindsey's script was penned months ago by writers of the round table and should her skis take turns for the Whistler worse, well, in the snow business there's always whiteout. Usually in America you need to first cry through your national anthem to activate the Olympics gold card, but Vonn's forward momentum could not be contained.

Lindsey Vonn dominated yet another World Cup downhill Saturday, winning by 1.42 seconds on the Engiadina course at St. Moritz, Switzerland. The American found speed that eluded her rivals and clocked 1 minute 43.65 seconds on the relatively flat 1.57-mile track. "I'm extremely happy with the win," said Vonn, whose eighth World Cup victory this season extended her lead in the overall and downhill standings. "It's been an amazing year so far. " Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany, the defending overall champion, was second.

It has been almost a week now of full focus on the least controversial body part displayed in skier Lindsey Vonn's recent Sports Illustrated swimsuit shoot: Her right shin. She bruised it Feb. 2 in Austria, couldn't walk for two days, limped into Vancouver last week and threw around such words as "excruciatingly painful." She questioned whether she could race and was even asked whether she might be using the injury as an excuse in case she didn't win. "Wow," Vonn responded.

The year after a Summer Olympics is supposed to be a time when the stars of the previous Games catch their breath while the likely stars of the next Winter Games give the Olympic world some breathless anticipation. So it was no surprise to see alpine skier Lindsey Vonn emerge as, so to speak, the Michael Phelps of the upcoming 2010 Winter Games, a woman clearly capable of winning four of her sport's five events. But we also saw Phelps being Phelps all over again, saving a sport whose brain-dead leadership allowed decades of history to be washed away by its failure to rein in technology.

Lindsey Vonn was denied a three-win weekend sweep by only 0.03 of a second as Maria Hoefl-Riesch won a super-combined event Sunday at St. Moritz, Switzerland. Hoefl-Riesch won for the first time in 11 months to kick-start her defense of the World Cup overall title she took from Vonn last season. Still, Vonn earned 80 points and extended her lead to 387 over Tina Maze of Slovenia, who placed fifth Sunday. Hoefl-Riesch, who is third overall, trailed Vonn by 0.23 after the super-G but just edged the American on a flat slalom course slowed by warm sunshine.

It looked a ski race but unfolded almost like literature, with a grab-you beginning tethered to the page-turner end. There were as many twists as the "Franz's Run" course had turns. It would be hard to imagine anything better than what actually happened Wednesday, at the Olympics, in Whistler, above white snow and below blue sky. Lindsey Vonn didn't just become the first American woman to win the Olympic downhill, with a time of 1 minute 44.19 seconds. Vonn did it with a throbbing shin under backbreaking pressure, which is why, when she won, she cried nonstop for almost two hours.

Lindsey Von n capped a successful weekend with a third-place finish in a super-G that helped her reclaim the sole lead of the overall World Cup standings less than two months before the Vancouver Olympics. After her victory in Friday's super combined, Vonn made mistakes Sunday in the upper part of the Oreiller-Killy course at Val d'Isere, France, but finished strong to gain a spot on the podium. Franzi Aufdenblatten posted her first World Cup victory, leading Nadia Styger to a 1-2 Swiss finish with Vonn 0.26 of a second off the pace.

Lindsey Vonn caught a bad break last week when a shin injury suffered during slalom training in Austria seemingly jeopardized her chances for achieving Olympic glory at the Vancouver Games. Don't worry: Gray skies are going to clear up? Strangely, Vonn certainly hopes not. Her good break came Thursday when the Whistler weather got worse. A day after she openly wondered if she would be able to compete in these Olympics, a grungy amalgam of snow, rain and fog forced the cancellation of Vonn's anticipated downhill training run. And that bought her precious healing time in an effort to recast herself as Alpine's multi-medal contender.

Lindsey Vonn was denied a three-win weekend sweep by only 0.03 of a second as Maria Hoefl-Riesch won a super-combined event Sunday at St. Moritz, Switzerland. Hoefl-Riesch won for the first time in 11 months to kick-start her defense of the World Cup overall title she took from Vonn last season. Still, Vonn earned 80 points and extended her lead to 387 over Tina Maze of Slovenia, who placed fifth Sunday. Hoefl-Riesch, who is third overall, trailed Vonn by 0.23 after the super-G but just edged the American on a flat slalom course slowed by warm sunshine.

Johnson Wagner played bogey-free over the last 12 holes and won the Sony Open at Honolulu for his third PGA Tour title. Six players had a share of the lead Sunday at some point in the final round. Wagner was the only player who stayed there, closing with a three-under-par 67 for a two-shot victory over Carl Pettersson , Sean O'Hair , Harrison Frazar and Charles Howell III . The win puts Wagner in the Masters. He ended his two-week working vacation in Hawaii with a tie for ninth at Kapalua and a win at Waialae.

Lindsey Vonn used a blistering finish to win the season-opening World Cup giant slalom at Soelden, Austria, and become the fifth female skier to win a race in all five Alpine disciplines. The three-time overall champion was fourth after the opening run before an impressive finish and won in a combined time of 2 minutes 24.43 seconds. Vonn is the second American skier to complete the discipline sweep after Bode Miller . "I can't believe this. This is a big dream coming true," Vonn said.

Lindsey Vonn overcame a concussion and won three titles in three days this month. Yet she was powerless when faced with wet, foggy weather and a decision by skiing's ruling body to cancel the women's season finale at Lenzerheide, Switzerland. "Win or lose, I just wanted the chance. I feel devastated," Vonn said in a statement released by her U.S. team. Vonn was hoping to win a fourth consecutive overall World Cup title in Saturday's giant slalom. Instead, friend and rival Maria Riesch's three-point lead held in the overall standings after the race was called off because of poor course conditions.

Martin Kaymer is the new No. 1 in golf. Kaymer calmly rolled in an eight-foot par putt on the 18th hole Saturday for a 1-up victory over Bubba Watson to advance to the final of the Match Play Championship at Marana, Ariz. That was all he needed to move to No. 1 in the next world ranking. The 26-year-old German becomes the second-youngest player to be No. 1 since the ranking began in 1986. Tiger Woods was 21 when he reached No. 1 in June 1997. It ends the 17-week reign of Lee Westwood , who had only three wins on his world ranking ledger when he became No. 1. With his 1-up victory, Kaymer advanced to the championship match Sunday against Luke Donald of England, who needed to play only 27 holes in his quarterfinal win over Ryan Moore and his semifinal demolition of Matt Kuchar . Earlier Saturday in his quarterfinal match, Watson played J.B. Holmes and was five down with eight to play when he staged an amazing comeback.

Didier Cuche of Switzerland became the oldest man at 36 to win a World Cup race, claiming the downhill on the Streif course at Kitzbuehel, Austria. Bode Miller was second. Cuche broke Marco Buechel's record by 85 days. The skier from Liechtenstein was 36 years 74 days old when he won his last race, a super-giant slalom in Kitzbuehel in 2008. The downhill champion was nearly flawless on the lower portion to finish the run in 1 minute 57.72 seconds. Miller was 0.98 of a second back and Adrien Theaux of France was third.

In a major roster shakeup, the Orlando Magic acquired guard Gilbert Arenas from the Washington Wizards and Hedo Turkoglu and Jason Richardson from the Phoenix Suns on Saturday. The Magic traded forward Rashard Lewis for Arenas, and sent Phoenix guards Vince Carter and Mickael Pietrus and backup center Marcin Gortat . Orlando also received Earl Clark from the Suns. A preseason favorite in the Eastern Conference, Orlando had lost five of its last six games entering Saturday.

When Lindsey Vonn finished her gold-medal-winning ski run during the Vancouver Olympics, she not only looked like a winner — she looked ready for her close-up. Setting aside her achievement on the slopes, how does a woman come through that kind of physical workout looking downright gorgeous? Somehow many female Olympic athletes seem able to look terrific during the most physically challenging workouts of their lives, muscling through pain, trying to conquer stress and battle nerves.