Caged Bird
By Maya AngelouThe free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream till the current ends and dips his wings in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings with fearful trill of the things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom
The free bird thinks of another breeze and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn and he names the sky his own.
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing
The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom.
Lindsey Vonn is a world-renowned World Cup alpine ski racer on the United States Ski Team. Over the course of her incredible career, Vonn won four World Cup championships, one of only two female skiers to do so! She won three consecutive titles in 2008, 2009, and 2010, and another in 2012. During the 2010 Winter Olympics, Vonn won the gold medal in the downhill, the first one for an American woman. And she won a record eight World Cup season titles in the downhill event, five titles in super-G, and three consecutive titles in the combined event.
Vonn is one of six women to have won World Cup races in all five events of alpine skiing: downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, and super combined. Throughout the course of her career, she won 82 World Cup races! Her total of 82 World Cup victories is a women’s record surpassing Annemarie Moser-Pröll of Austria who had held the record since the 1970s.
Vonn received the Laureus Sportswoman of the Year award in 2010 and was the United States Olympic Committee’s sportswoman of the year. Check out these incredible action shots on Vonn doing what she does best.
Alpine Skiing Women Downhill
Getty Images/Bongarts/Sandra Behne
Just by looking at this photo, you can feel the excitement and energy coming from Lindsey Vonn! The skiing champion was screaming after completing the Alpine Skiing Ladies Downhill event on the sixth day of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics on February 17, 2010. Vonn won the gold medal in downhill at the 2010 Winter Olympics, the first one for an American woman!
