U.S. ski great <person>Lindsey Vonn</person> announced on Friday she would be retiring after this month’s Alpine world championships in Sweden because her body was “broken beyond repair” and screaming at her to stop.

“I have accepted that I cannot continue ski racing. I will compete at the World Championships in downhill and SG (super-G) next week in Are, Sweden, and they will be the final races of my career,” <person>Vonn</person>, 34, said on Instagram.

<person>Vonn</person>, who holds the women’s record of 82 World Cup wins, had previously suggested she might compete until December so she could race again in the Canadian resort of Lake Louise, her most successful tour stop, after an injury denied her the opportunity to do so in 2018.

But <person>Vonn</person>, who in 2010 became the first American woman to win an Olympic downhill gold, has been plagued by knee injuries and said in a tearful interview with Austrian state broadcaster ORF last month that she might have to quit immediately.

As recognizable on the red carpet as she is on the ski hill, the personable and photogenic <person>Vonn</person>, who once dated professional golfer <person>Tiger Woods</person>, had a crossover appeal that made her the sport’s most popular athlete and earned her many lucrative endorsement deals.

In a lengthy post on Instagram, <person>Vonn</person> said the past two weeks had been emotional and that the decision to call time on a glittering career was the hardest of her life.

“I have always pushed the limits of ski racing and it has allowed me to have amazing success but also dramatic crashes,” said <person>Vonn</person>, whose injury setbacks include multiple broken bones, surgeries and grueling rehabilitations.

“I have never wanted the storyline of my career to be about injuries and because of that I decided not to tell anyone that I underwent surgery this past spring. A large portion of cartilage that had delaminated from my bone was removed.

“My crash in Lake Louise last year (2017) was much more painful than I let on, but I continued to race because I wanted to win a medal in the (2018 Pyeongchang) Olympics for my late grandfather.”