Former Olympic gold medalist and world champion Lindsey Vonn is returning to skiing, she announced Thursday. She said in an interview with The New York Times that her return was not planned and that she reconsidered only after successful knee replacement surgery seven months ago stopped the pain that had prompted her retirement.

Lindsey Vonn says she is coming out of retirement to rejoin the U.S. Ski Team in an attempt to race again at age 40.

Four-time World Cup overall champion and 2010 Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn will rejoin the U.S. ski team more than five years after claiming, in her retirement announcement, that her “body is broken beyond repair and it isn’t letting me have the final season I dreamed of.”