Lindsey Vonn is out to win gold in her final Olympics, but not because she wants to add to the pair of medals she picked up at the 2010 Vancover Winter Olympics. No, Vonn, who has had a star-crossed history with the Olympics, wants that gold medal for her late grandfather, Don Kildow, who served in the Korean War. 

An emotional Vonn teared up on Saturday during a press conference when asked about the memory of her grandfather and how it was resonating with her as she prepared for the women's alpine events in South Korea. 

"I want so badly to do well for him, and I miss him so much," Vonn told the assembled press. "He's been such a big part of my life, and I really had hoped that he would be alive to see me, but I know he's watching and I know that he's going to help me, and I'm going to win for him." 

Vonn shared a clip, on her Instagram, from an interview that will air on NBC where she sits with her grandfather as he talks about his service in Korea and his connection to his famous granddaughter.

I miss him so much 😭

A post shared by L I N D S E Y • V O N N (@lindseyvonn) on

The road back to the Winter Olympics for the most successful women's alpine skier in the history of the sport has been filled with setbacks. After winning a gold medal to go with a bronze at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Vonn re-injured a previous knee injury in December 2013 that took her out of the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Now at 33, facing what will likely be her last Olympics, Vonn is treating Pyeongchang as unfinished business. She has been loose, yet focused, as she's taken in the Opening Ceremony with her U.S. teammates and begun training on the track at the Jeongseon Alpine Center in the Taebaek mountains.

Vonn made her Olympic debut in the 2002 Salt Lake City Games at just 17, skiing the slalom and combined (downhill and slalom), where she finished sixth. She was a medal favorite entering the 2006 Turin Olympics but a violent crash in her second run of downhill training sent her to the hospital in a helicopter. Undaunted, a severely-bruised and sore Vonn left the hospital after one night and skied in the downhill two days later, finishing eighth. She also battled through injury in Vancouver, overcoming a severe bone bruise on her shin to absolutely smoke the women's downwhill and bump teammate Julia Mancuso to the silver medal. 

Vonn couldn't be entering the Pyeongchang Games in a better spot. She's coming off back-to-back downhill wins last weekend in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, in her final tune-up before the Pyeongchang Olympics. The win on Feb. 4 marked her third straight in the discipline after also winning in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, two weeks ago.  

The only hiccup so far has been a long travel delay as she made her way to Pyeongchang. She announced on Instagram on Thursday, that she had finally arrived in South Korea after a day-long odyssey that included a six-hour delay. 

"After six hours on the tarmac before takeoff and a total of 24 hours of travel, we are finally here," she wrote. "Hustled over to team processing, where the whole staff was waiting since I was the last athlete to come through. Can't wait for the opening ceremonies tomorrow!"

The delay originally occurred because, as Vonn speculated Wednesday, her travel crew didn't "have the right documents to fly."

Vonn is only one of six women to win World Cup races in all five alpine disciplines: downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom and combined, which pairs a downhill run with a slalom run. But she likely won't be skiing in all five at the Pyeongchang Games after telling the AP that she plans to compete in downhill, super-G and the combined event at the Olympics.  

The women's alpine events begin Sunday with the giant slalom, an event in which Vonn's younger teammate, Mikaela Shiffrin, is among the medal favorites. 

Here's how to watch the women's alpine events on TV:

Winter Olympics women's alpine schedule

Date: Sunday, Feb. 11
Event: Women's giant slalom
Time: 7-11 p.m. ET
TV: NBC
Stream: fuboTV (try for free)

Date: Sunday, Feb. 11
Event: Women's giant slalom gold medal final
Time: 11:35 p.m.-1 a.m. ET
TV: NBC
Stream: fuboTV (try for free)

Date: Tuesday, Feb. 13
Event: Women's slalom, first run
Time: 8-11:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBC
Stream: fuboTV (try for free)

Date: Wednesday, Feb. 14
Event: Women's slalom gold medal final
Time: 12:05-1:30 a.m. ET
TV: NBC
Stream: fuboTV (try for free)

Date: Friday, Feb. 16
Event: Women's super-G gold medal final
Time: 8 p.m.-midnight ET
TV: NBC
Stream: fuboTV (try for free)

Date: Sunday, Feb. 18 and Monday, Feb. 19
Event: Women's downhill training
Time: 8-10:10 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
Stream: fuboTV (try for free)

Date: Tuesday, Feb. 20
Event: Women's downhill gold medal final
Time: 8 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET
TV: NBC
Stream: fuboTV (try for free)

Date: Thursday, Feb. 22
Event: Women's combined
Time: 8 p.m.-midnight ET
TV: NBC
Stream: fuboTV (try for free)

Date: Friday, Feb. 23
Event: Women's combined gold medal run
Time: 12:35-2 a.m. ET
TV: NBC
Stream: fuboTV (try for free)