Whatever we don't know about the Sochi Winter Olympics, which are less than a month away, we know this: there will be a new champion in the women's downhill skiing.

Lindsey Vonn's intention to defend her title despite re-injuring in November the knee which had taken 10 months to heal after a serious fall last February was always likely to be a matter of hope rather than expectation.

When the 29-year-old American said this week on Facebook that she was "devastated" to announce she would not be able to compete in Sochi because of the damage sustained to her anterior cruciate knee ligament (ACL) it was hardly a surprise.

Lindsey Vonn, pictured at Val-d'Isère last year, has had to accept this week that her knee injury will preclude her from defending her Olympic downhill title in Sochi next month ©Getty Images

It is harsh for Vonn. But at least she has had the opportunity not just to compete at the Olympics, but to win a gold medal. No one can take that away from her.

The circumstances are harsher still for another sportsman who fell victim to the same ACL injury at the weekend - Theo Walcott. When Arsenal's winger-cum-centre-forward injured his knee two minutes from the end of his side's 2-0 win over Spurs in the FA Cup third round he made a defiant and smiling exit as he was wheeled away sitting on a mobile stretcher.

But the news that he had ruptured his ACL in tackling Tottenham's full back Danny Rose deep in the Arsenal half - why do forwards do these things? They never turn out well... - meant that he will not be available for England's World Cup squad in Brazil this summer.

There was a wounding irony to this, given that Walcott was controversially - and misguidedly - called up as a 17-year-old for the 2006 World Cup squad by then England manager Sven Göran Eriksson. At the time it seemed, astonishingly, as if this talented young player was set for a long career of World Cup finals involvement.

Hello trainer, bye bye World Cup finals - Theo Walcott calls for attention after injuring his knee in Saturday's FA Cup third round tie against Spurs ©Getty Images

As things turned out, however, he was no more than a tourist in Germany as his teammates reached - of course - the quarterfinals, and at the World Cup finals four years later he didn't make the squad. Now the prodigious young World Cup squad member will have to wait until he is at least 29 to have a chance of actually playing in the finals. He might still. But he might not.

Walcott's unhappy turn of events has prompted some media outlets to talk about his "World Cup jinx." That may seem over-dramatic to some, but the fact is that there have been, and will be, sportsmen and women who, despite blindingly obvious talent and capability, never manage to achieve at certain towering sporting events.

For Walcott, the World Cup finals are the elusive goal. Should he fail to make the trip to Russia with England four years from now it would be, sadly, another good story for the media.

Over the years, the jinx story has exerted a profound power to interest and divert the sportsviewing public. When Ken Rosewall reached the Wimbledon final in 1974 at the age of 39 he was still seeking the victory which would have completed his grand slam set. After three final defeats in SW19 he faced a brash young American 21 years his junior in Jimmy Connors. The crowd were willing him to earn the title he had sought for so long. (And so, watching on the television, was my Mum.) He lost in straight sets. Rosewall's name fitted into the US Open, the Australian Open and the French Open - but he and the Wimbledon trophy were destined never to get together.

Ken Rosewall takes a break and a drink during his three-sets defeat in the 1974 Wimbledon final to 18-year-old Jimmy Connors, pictured behind him ©Getty Images

Rosewall's compatriot and near contemporary Ron Clarke was similarly fated in terms of the Olympics. Despite being the pre-eminent middle and long distance runner of his generation, and setting 17 world records in a career which spanned the 1960s, he never won an Olympic title, having to settle for a bronze at Tokyo 1964 in the 10,000m. Indeed, the jinx extended to any kind of gold medal - he won silver at three successive Commonwealth Games.

A young Ron Clarke lights the Olympic Cauldron at his home Games of 1956 in Melbourne - but he would never win an Olympic title despite his superb abilities ©Getty Images

The career of Paula Radcliffe, Britain's world record holder at the marathon, had strong parallels with that of Clarke. She was also the pre-eminent performer in her field for several years, but a combination of untimely illnesses and injuries meant she never won an Olympic medal either on the track or the road. She finished fifth in the Atlanta 1996 5,000m, then fourth in the Sydney 2000 10,000m, then dropped out of both the marathon and the 10,000m in Athens four years later before finishing 23rd in the Beijing 2008 Games marathon. Four years further on she was not fit enough to take up her place in the London 2012 Games...

Britain's world marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe finds the going tough during the 2008 Beijing Games marathon, in which she finished 23rd. She has never won an Olympic medal ©Getty Images


It happens to teams as well as individuals, of course. Hungary, for instance, were the outstanding team in world football in the early 1950s. Between May 14, 1950 and February 19, 1956 they lost just one match - the 1954 World Cup final against a West German team they had beaten 8-3 in the qualifying stages.

Is it a better story if the jinx continues to the bitter end - or if it is finally broken? Arguable. Personally I like the latter scenario, and in 1998, at the Nagano Winter Olympics, I was fortunate enough to watch a spectacular unjinxing - if that is a word, and if it isn't you know what I mean.

Four years earlier at the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Japan were on the brink of winning the team gold in the large hill (120m) ski jump event, with Masahiko Harada, who had managed 122m with his first effort, requiring to reach around 110m in what was the final jump of the competition to confirm victory. He could only manage 97.5m, the worst jump of the final, and Germany stole the title.

Harada, always known for his cheerful demeanour, commented after his Lillehammer letdown: "In the past, a well-raised Japanese would have to commit hari-kari after such a mistake."

Four years later, in front of home crowds packed onto the snow-stoked slopes of the northern Japanese Alps, Harada faltered once again with victory in his sights, dropping from first to fifth after his second effort in the normal hill individual event. Although he earned bronze in the individual event on the big hill, his moment of truth arrived in the large hill team event once again - an event before which the head delegate of the Japanese team had proclaimed: "We will win. We must win."

When Harada could only manage 79.5m on his first jump, that prediction was looking doomed. But his second effort was an epiphany - 137m, effectively assuring the home nation of the gold they had so feverishly desired.

Masahiko Harada (second right) celebrates victory in the 1998 Olympic team ski jump competition ©Getty Images

The 2018 World Cup final. Russia, the hosts, against England, winners of the trophy in 1966. Five minutes from time, 52 years of hurt are ended when the decisive goal comes from England's veteran international winger - Theo Walcott. Sorry. I'm getting a bit ahead of myself...

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, covered the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics as chief feature writer for insidethegames, having covered the previous five summer Games, and four winter Games, for The Independent. He has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, The Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. His latest book Foul Play – the Dark Arts of Cheating in Sport (Bloomsbury £12.99) is available at the insidethegames.biz shop.