U.S. Olympic team member Lindsey Vonn not going to Sochi

Looks like the U.S. Olympic team will be missing one member of its family. Mstars has learned that gold medal skier Lindsey Vonn won't be competing at the 2014 Winter Olympic games in Sochi.

According to The Daily Beast, Vonn made the upsetting announcement on Tuesday. The skier said in her statement that she will not compete due to her knee injury. "I did everything I possibly could to somehow get strong enough to overcome having no ACL but the reality has sunk in that my knee is just too unstable to compete at this level."

The gold medalist previously had knee surgery 11 months ago, and is scheduled to have another one soon to be able to compete in the World Championships in Vail next year. 

"Vonn will have surgery shortly and is expected to make a full recovery in time for the 2014/15 World Cup season and the 2015 World Alpine Ski Championships in Vail-Beaver Creek," the statement added, according to USA Today. 

Vonn, who is only 29-years-old, is the most accomplished female Alpine skier in U.S. history, holding 17 World Cup titles, 59 World Cup victories, and she is currently dating golfer star Tiger Woods. 

Vonn tore the anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament in her right knee and fractured her tibia at the Alpine skiing world championship in Austria February, and later injuring her knee once again in a race in December.

In the midst of the disappointment, some, like Bill Marolt, president of the U.S. Skiing and Snowboard Association are already looking forward to Vonn's return. 

"In looking ahead, I have every ounce of confidence that Lindsey will be in the starting gate next World Cup season ready to compete. She knows the hard work it takes to get to the top and still has significant goals to achieve in what has been an incredible career," USA Today reports.