The American struck an upbeat tone despite her injury.
Lindsey Vonn has “no regrets” over her decision to compete in the Winter Olympic Games nine days after tearing her ACL, despite suffering a complex tibia fracture that will require multiple surgeries in a crash in Sunday’s downhill.
Vonn sustained her ACL injury in Switzerland in the last Alpine Skiing World Cup race before the Games. However, the 41-year-old was determined to compete in her final Olympics at Milan-Cortina and had successfully completed two training runs.
However, the risk she took in racing backfired early in her run as Vonn crashed into a gate, receiving prolonged medical attention on the slope before being airlifted from the piste.
The accident marked a sad end to Vonn’s Olympic career, which saw her won three medals, including gold in the downhill in 2010 in Vancouver.
But in a statement posted on her Instagram account, Vonn struck an upbeat note despite her dreadful injury.
She wrote: “Yesterday my Olympic dream did not finish the way I dreamt it would. It wasn’t a story book ending or a fairy tale, it was just life. I dared to dream and had worked so hard to achieve it. Because in Downhill ski racing the difference between a strategic line and a catastrophic injury can be as small as 5 inches.
“I was simply 5 inches too tight on my line when my right arm hooked inside of the gate, twisting me and resulted in my crash. My ACL and past injuries had nothing to do with my crash whatsoever.
“Unfortunately, I sustained a complex tibia fracture that is currently stable but will require multiple surgeries to fix properly.
“While yesterday did not end the way I had hoped, and despite the intense physical pain it caused, I have no regrets. Standing in the starting gate yesterday was an incredible feeling that I will never forget. Knowing I stood there having a chance to win was a victory in and of itself. I also knew that racing was a risk. It always was and always will be an incredibly dangerous sport.
“And similar to ski racing, we take risks in life. We dream. We love. We jump. And sometimes we fall. Sometimes our hearts are broken. Sometimes we don’t achieve the dreams we know we could have. But that is the also the beauty of life; we can try.
“I tried. I dreamt. I jumped.
“I hope if you take away anything from my journey it’s that you all have the courage to dare greatly. Life is too short not to take chances on yourself. Because the only failure in life is not trying.
“I believe in you, just as you believed in me.”
