VANCOUVER, British Columbia � U.S. skiing star Lindsey Vonn is worried a badly bruised right shin will keep her out of the Vancouver Olympics.

Vonn revealed Wednesday that she was injured in a slalom training run Feb. 3 during pre-Olympic practice in Austria.
�I�m sitting here today questioning whether, you know, I�ll be even able to ski,� Vonn said at a news conference. �I have to play it by ear.�
It was a startling announcement so close to the start of a Winter Games that has been shaping up as a showcase for Vonn. As a two-time reigning overall World Cup champion, the 25-year-old who lives and trains in Vail, Colo., has been considered a contender to win multiple medals.
Asked whether she could be forced to sit out altogether, Vonn replied: �Yeah, that�s a possibility.�
She hasn�t skied since getting hurt and said it�s even been painful to simply put on a pair of ski boots in her hotel room to test the leg. Vonn said the bruising covers about a 6-inch swath of her lower right leg, but she refused to get any X-rays to check whether she broke a bone because she didn�t want to know.
She described her mindset as �very emotional, very scared. Not the positive way you want to be starting the Olympics.�
The first women�s Alpine race is the super-combined on Sunday. Vonn said she figures she will know a lot more about her status for the Olympics once she takes a run down the slope at Whistler Mountain. The first official training run for women is Thursday.
Vonn is slated to compete in all five women�s Alpine events and has been widely seen as the favorite to win gold medals in the speed events: downhill and super-G.
She is no stranger to injuries � or to ignoring them on the slopes.
At the 2006 Turin Olympics, she took a harrowing spill at somewhere around 50 mph in downhill training, a fall that bruised her back and sent her to the hospital. Less than 48 hours later, Vonn � then known as Lindsey Kildow, because she wasn�t yet married � was back in the starting gate and finished eighth in the downhill.
This season, in late December, she lost control during a World Cup giant slalom in Austria, thudded to the ground and worried she had broken her left wrist. It turned out it was a bad bruise, but Vonn was right back out there racing in a slalom the next morning, wearing a brace to protect the tender arm. Less than two weeks later, she was stringing together a three-race winning streak.
Earlier that month, Vonn�s knee slammed into her chin as she sped down a downhill in Lake Louise, Alberta, making her teeth chomp on her tongue, causing blood to pour out of a corner of her mouth as she crossed the finish line.